


Freaks of a Feather

by Mutant_Toad



Series: Mutant Feathers [1]
Category: X-Men Evolution
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-13
Updated: 2014-06-26
Packaged: 2017-12-11 17:14:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 40
Words: 137,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/801143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mutant_Toad/pseuds/Mutant_Toad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Formerly known as 'The Bird and the Toad'. Despite having deleted this once already because I started to find a hatred for it, I'm reposting it. I figured out where my hatred of it started, so I'm rewriting it from Chapter 15 on.  The basic plot will remain the same, but I'm going to approach it differently this time. Lili started to become too whiny and annoying for my tastes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The wind felt good on her face. It was warm and comfortable. Normally, she was freezing, but the heat going in the cabin and the warm wind was nice. It was a perfect day outside. She really wished she didn’t have to be cooped up in this train car, but it wasn’t like she had many other choices. It was either this or stay at home. It wasn’t like staying home was a bad thing, but it was time for a change in her life. Starting with a little train ride.

The ride would have been just fine if she had a cabin to herself, but she didn’t. The two of them were dressed similarly. Both of them were wearing a thick, brown cloak. She knew why she was wearing hers, but she didn’t know why the other person was wearing theirs. The Professor had said that she would be traveling with ‘someone like her’.

“This is my first train ride. You?”

“Ja,” the accent of the other was thick, even with just one word, “Not sure I like it.”

“Me either,” she smiled lightly, “What’s your name? I’m Lili Kline.”

“Kurt Wagner. Are you going to the institute too?”

“Yeah. Where are you from?” his accent was new to her, but then again, so were a lot of things. Lili wished he would put the hood down on his cloak or at least turn so she could get a look at her face. She hadn’t met anyone like herself before, “You’ve got a cool accent.”

“Danke, I’m German. You sound like you’re from around here. Ja?“

She nodded a bit, “Close. I’m from West Virginia, not too far away. Nowhere near as far away as Germany. Why are you on the train? Should you have taken a plane here?“ she wouldn’t deny being terribly curious about a lot of things.

”Nein, das sind Flugzeuge schwierig,“ he shook his head, ”Sorry, I meant, planes are too difficult. I had to take a boat and now a train. I do not mind though. It’s an adventure.“

”I wish I could feel the same. I’m scared. I’ve never left my house before. Now I have to leave home and come all the way here by myself. I kinda miss my bedroom,” she looked down at her lap as she thought about it.

”Me too,” at least they both agreed on that, “I hope we’ll be there soon.”

Lili nodded and folded her hands together in her lap, “I know it’s private, but do you mind if I see your face?” the shifting around she got from him told her that he wasn’t comfortable with that, “I won’t make fun of you. I’m not very nice to look at myself. Trust me, I know,” she motioned to herself.

She knew what she was. Just one glance in the glass of one of the windows reminded her. It’s the reason she avoided mirrors so much at home. Lili was well aware of her appearance. All that could be seen outside of the cloak was bone thin fingers and her sunken face. The thinness of her hands and fingers made her nails look almost like claws, “I don’t know, you look fine to me,” he finally responded.

“Thanks, but you’re only seein’ a little bit of me. The rest of me is much worse. If you don’t believe me, I’ll show you,” there was no waiting for him to reply as she got up and closed the shade on the window door and did the same to the car cabin windows, “I’m not like a monster or anything, but it’s just not very pretty.”

Kurt watched as she unclasped the brown cloak. He was shocked at what he saw. She was dressed like a normal, teenage girl. Light blue jeans with a simple brown belt, white top that showed her midriff. Even a little bit of jewelry in the form of a small bracelet and chain wrapped around her waist. The chain was silver with a little moon shape over her belly button. Her clothing was the only thing normal about her though.

Thick leather straps held large, white feathered wings down to her back. The appendages strained against the straps and it was likely painful. Lili was used to the pain and didn’t even feel it anymore. There were a few spots where the straps had caused the feathers to fall out. The wings weren’t the strangest though. The rest of her body was horrific. Her face was thin and sunken, but so was everything else. Her arms were thin as rails, her chest was bare bones and her ribs stuck out. The waist chain didn’t sit on nice rounded hips, it sat on bones. The jeans covered what were likely pole thin legs, “Told ya, not very pretty.”

“I, uh, I don’t know what to say…” Kurt just stared and she caught a glimpse of yellowish eyes before he looked down.

“Don’t worry. I didn’t expect you to say anything. I know what I look like. I know it’s not pleasant, but it’s who I am. I like how I look. I have a metabolism to kill for,” she joked, “I can eat anything I want and my body processes it too fast for it to turn into any kind of fat or muscle. It’s part of my mutation. Last time a doctor checked me, he said I was perfectly healthy. Not malnourished or lacking in anything. I might look like a skeleton, but I’m a healthy bag of bones,” Lili didn’t mind joking about her appearances.

“I guess you want to see what I look like to, huh?” the sound of his voice made her frown.

“Only if you want to, I won’t make you. I offered to show myself, I don’t expect the same of anyone. You’ll show me when you’re ready. After all, we’re going to the same place.”

He seemed to think for a moment as she put her cloak back on, “You’re right. We’re going to be living in the same place, so I shouldn’t be worried to show,” as he spoke, he pulled back the hood and sleeves of his cloak. Lili was visibly surprised to see a face of short, navy blue fur. Even his hair was blue. His eyes lacked pupils and were a solid yellow color. Instead of five fingers, he had two large fingers and an overly large thumb on each hand. Pointed ears stuck out of his hair. Lili had a feeling that there was more to his mutation, but he didn’t seem willing to share all of it just yet, “Cool. I like blue. I prefer green, but blue is nice,” she smiled sincerely, “I guess we’re alike. Think there will be others like us there?”

“I hope so…”

***

“Scott. Jean. Can you come here for a moment? I’d like to introduce you to some new students,” the wheelchair bound man called in a beautiful redhead and a guy that nearly took her breath away. Apparently his name was Scott and he was gorgeous. Lili had expected a mansion full of people like herself and Kurt. Not beautiful people like these two. Still, if she got to look at this Scott all day, she could deal with it, “This is Kurt Wagner and Lili Kline. They are going to be joining us here and attending the high school with you two starting tomorrow.”

School? Lili hadn’t been told that she was supposed to actually go to school. Kurt looked just as surprised. The Professor had promised to keep them safe, but he was going to throw them as they were out into teenage society. Lili didn’t understand, but Scott moved closer to them and she forgot about it for a moment. She didn’t realize that everyone had been talking. One moment, Kurt was standing next to her and the next, he was across the room. There was the faint smell of sulfur and she stared in shock with Scott and Jean as the blue demon boy showed off his ability.

“Wow…” she muttered before the two pretty mutants headed off and the Professor lead them around some hallways.

“Is this whole room for me?” Kurt said loudly, “This is amazing!” and it was. The room was huge. The bed alone was worth it. King sized with tons of pillows and blankets. Lili hoped she got one like that too, “Thank you, Professor!”

“I have something else for you, Kurt. You too, Lili,” the bald man held out two small boxes. Kurt’s contained a wrist watch and hers a pendant necklace. While she waited to put hers on, Kurt went right for it and strapped the watch on. The Professor reached over and pushed one of the buttons and Kurt went from being a blue furred demon to a rather adorable teenage boy. Clothing and all. It still looked like him, but no fur, no blue, no yellow eyes, and no tail. Even his hands looked normal. He seemed very pleased with his new appearance.

Lili quickly put her necklace on and the Professor showed her how to activate it. Sadly, she didn’t favor the appearance it gave her. It filled out her frame and made her look more like Jean. Instead of her naturally white hair, it gave her the hair that was in her family pictures when she was younger, brown. And it even changed her clothing, “How does it…uh…How does it decide what we look like?”

“I don’t care how it decides. This is awesome!” Kurt was still staring in the mirror, “You rule, Professor!”

“Are you not happy with it, Lili? It’s a programmable device. It bases the default appearance based on your own body, usually,” though she could tell that it took some liberties of it’s own when creating hers. It seemed so plain and generic. Lili didn’t like it at all, “I can show you how to adjust it, if you would like.”

She nodded. That was definitely what she wanted. She knew the appearance it gave her would help her fit in and blend in, but her life had never needed for her to do something like that before and she saw no reason to start, “I want to look more like myself,” she commented as they left Kurt’s room to find her own, “But without the wings.”

“It’s good that you want to be yourself, Lili. There is nothing wrong with you. The image inducer will merely help you. Society currently does not accept mutants. They do not know of our existence. I pray that, in my lifetime or at least yours, that you will be able to walk without the inducer freely without any sort of persecution. I do have to warn you, if you chose to look as you do, with the inducer hiding only your wings, you will be judged and once the image chosen and people see you, it will not be easy to change back to anything else without complications.”

“I understand, Professor. My parents might have kept me hidden, but my mother always told me to be happy with the way I look. Which I am. I want people to see the way I look. That way when the time comes for mutants to walk openly, I don’t have too much to explain,” she smiled.

“Very well. I’ll show you how to alter the inducer,” he smiled back as he showed her to his room.

***

Lili and Kurt spent the rest of the day wandering around the institute. Exploring the many corridors and rooms. There were a few they couldn’t get into, but they figured that was for the best right now. The Professor told them they could wander around as they pleased, but asked that they stay on the grounds and not wander into the town just yet. Both of them were perfectly fine with that. For the most part, they wanted to find all the important locations. The bathroom, the TV, the kitchen; things like that. They both wondered how many mutants had passed through here before they got here.

It was amazing to think that there were other people in the world with powers. Lili had always thought she was alone. She was sure Kurt felt the same way.

“Do you think we’ll get codenames? I heard the Professor refer to someone as ‘Cyclops’. I’m pretty sure that’s not their real name. And someone named ‘Wolverine’,” it was an interesting question that Kurt raised.

“I guess so. Though I’m not sure why we’d need them. I’m not even sure what I’d want to be called.”

“Harpy. You know. Those bird women from stories. You can be Harpy,” he said with a smirk.

“Yeah, I guess that works. What about you though? You should have something cool. Maybe Night Demon or Blue Stalker or Tailed Wonder,” she chuckled lightly.

The blue boy thought for a moment, “Nightcrawler.”

“That’s cool. Where’d you get that from?”

“It’s something my father used to call me. I was his little Nightcrawler. Cause I’m blue like the night sky and I’m really good at climbing and crawling over things.”

“It’s settled then. I’m the Harpy and you’re the Nightcrawler.”

“Wunderbar!”

“I don’t know what that means, but I’ll take it as a good thing,” she nodded.

***

Eventually, she and Kurt parted ways in the mansion. She spent some time in her room playing with her image inducer till it gave her the appearance she wanted. It looked just like her, but without the wings. It amazed her that she could feel her wings still strapped down to her back, but look in the mirror and not see even a hint of them. Lili knew she would have to be careful. Just because she couldn’t see her wings didn’t mean they weren’t there. She was still going to have to make sure no one touched them or bumped into her back. Even if she stayed with the default image, people were still going to think she was strange for how she would have to sit so close to the edge of seats and how she never turned her back to people. Still, at least she was comfortable with the way she looked.

She spied Scott and Jean from her window and blushed a little. He was really cute, but she was sure he had a girlfriend. Probably Jean. They looked good together. Lili may have been happy with her appearances, but she knew that she could never land a guy like that. Still, a girl could fantasize. That’s about all she’d been able to do her whole life.

Living with her parents had been all about keeping secrets. They never had guests over and Lili was never allowed to leave the house. They loved her, but they were scared that someone would hurt her if they saw her. She understood and it wasn’t that big of a deal. She could easily tell from watching tv that she was different and people wouldn’t accept her. So she quickly got over it. They didn’t have access to things like image inducers and as far as they knew, she was the only person like her in the world. It was a shock when the Professor showed up to bring her here. At first her parents didn’t want to let her go. They were scared for her. Thankfully, both her and the Professor had been able to convince them. He went on about how many of his students went on to live normal, successful lives and could hopefully do so openly about their mutations.

She watched out the window for a moment before she saw the sky dark suddenly. It was getting late, but surely it shouldn’t be so dark so quickly. Storm clouds rolled in almost as quickly and thunder clapped. Her eyes widened when she saw the white haired woman that had been with the Professor flying! She moved through the skies past Lili’s window and ignored the gawking girl. Was that woman the reason for the sudden storm? Could someone really do something like that? Lili couldn’t believe that it was possible.

At least she didn’t till she saw the woman raise her arm and a lightening bolt shot down into the forest area of the mansion grounds. Lili couldn’t see what the woman was aiming the bolts at, but there had to be something down there.

She shot from her room and started down the main staircase when the door blew open and someone came tumbling inside. Kurt came bounding out of another corridor and ran into the intruder. Lili froze, wanting to help Kurt, but unsure of really what to do when the two boys stood up and started circling each other.

The intruder was about the same height as Kurt, but he kept his body low to the ground. His skin was a pale green color, almost like pond water. His hair was a shade darker than his skin. He was also wearing the strangest outfit, then again, so was Kurt. They looked like battle uniforms of some sort. While not a pressing matter, she kind of wondered where her’s was. Would she get something like that.

She shook her thoughts back to the situation in time to hear the intruder call Kurt a ‘blue furred freak’ and the two of them bounded off down the nearest hallway. Kurt lept to the wall and clung to it as he crawled his way through the hall. The intruder made the most amazing leaps as he followed after, apparently hell bent on tearing Kurt’s head off.

“Professor!” she wanted to go after Kurt, but wasn’t sure who or what this other person was. Best to leave these sorts of things to the adults. So she ran back up the stairs to find him. She spoke quickly, but he seemed to already know what was going on.

By the time they made it back out to the main entry for the mansion, Kurt and other boy were hanging from the ceiling lamp. The room smelled like sulfur and at least four windows were busted out along with a long trail of broken pictures, mirrors, and statue busts. But at least no one seemed hurt yet, “Mr. Tolanski, please, remain calm.”

“I’m going to get blue boy’s fuzzy head on a platter!” he shouted as he grabbed for Kurt. The two of them fell toward the ground and Lili gasped. It was a long fall and it would likely hurt the both of them. But just before hitting the ground the two disappeared into a puff of smoking sulfur.

“They’ve teleported to the danger room...” the professor said lightly before closing his eyes. She could hear a voice in her head for a moment, “Jean, Scott; Kurt has teleported into the danger room. Get there immediately and get them out.”

“Professor, what’s the danger room?” she asked, “Is Kurt going to be okay? Who was that other guy?”

“The danger room is a training place here in the mansion. With the way Kurt entered it, it’s going to go into attack mode to rid the threat of an intruder. Neither Kurt nor Mr. Tolanski is prepared for such a fight. Neither are you. I think it would be best if you went on to bed, Lili. You have school in the morning. Kurt and Mr. Tolanski will be fine,” he sounded so sure and confident of that. Who was she to question? “Mr. Tolanski is a mutant, like yourself. I allowed him to come here in the hopes that he would stay and join us, but I do not think he will be...” he seemed upset about this, “Go on to bed.”

Lili had more questions, but his command to go to her room seemed just like that. A command. It wasn’t a request. She was sure it was his voice she’d heard in his head. Lili wasn’t about to fight someone that could get in her head.

With a sigh, she nodded and headed up to her room for the night. He was right after all, she had school in the morning. It would be the first time she ever went to a real school and was around other kids her age.

As much as she knew she shouldn’t, she crept out of her room once it was late and knocked softly on Kurt’s door, “Hey, you awake?”

“Ja.”

Lili slipped inside and saw the blue boy sitting on the edge of his bed, “That was...intense, huh?”

“Ja,” that seemed to be all he could say at the moment.

“That guy was kind of cute,” she teased, trying to brighten him up.

“You didn’t have to smell him,” he wrinkled his nose and she laughed, “It was like dirty lederhosen. I don’t think I can get that smell out of my clothes.”

She laughed harder, “I don’t know what that is, but I’ll take your word for it.”


	2. Chapter 2

Breath. Just breath.

That’s what Lili kept telling herself to do. If the other kids could do this, then so could she. It didn’t matter if she had more to hide than them. They were all teenagers and were going to have to deal with the same basic things. She couldn’t imagine that anyone actually liked going to school. It was still homework. She knew that from her homeschooling.

The Professor had Kurt and herself take a bunch of aptitude tests for placement. Kurt had done very well in a few areas, so had she. Most of the stuff on the tests were things her parents had taught her years ago. She guessed homeschooling had different set ups than public schools.

Lili ended up with classes she supposed she could handle. Higher level chemistry class, same for literature and math. Other than that, she was put into basic classes. She was amazed at how quickly the Professor got all of this worked out. One day she is home with her parents and the next she is watching a fight between two mutants and then the next she’s going to highschool like a normal kid. If everyday was going to be like that, she wasn’t sure she was going to be able to handle it.

What about the other kids? Classes would be easy enough. Homework was homework, but it was the other kids that had her worried. It was easy to talk with Kurt. He didn’t look like anyone else. It was easy talking to him when she knew he was going to be dealing with the same situation she was. But everyone else in her classes would be normal kids. They didn’t have to worry about always having to wear backless shirts or making sure she didn’t fall down and break a bone.

Her bones were another issue. The Professor somehow managed to convince the school that Lili could not attend gym classes. He’d come up with the perfect medical excuse for not only that, but several other things as well. Something called Osteogenesis imperfecta, brittle bone disease, Type III. When he explained the traits of it, she tried to make light of it, “Are we sure I don’t have that?” she knew the answer. Obviously people with that didn’t have wings.

Lili went over her story a hundred times that morning. Her name was Lili Kline, that was simple enough. She was sixteen years old and transferred to the Xavier Institute for Gift Youngsters after her high aptitude tests caught the Professors attention. She would be attending public school for social reasons and the institute was a college prep boarding school. She had that brittle bone disease, so she couldn’t attend gym classes and it explained her thinness to an extent. Her reasoning for not turning her back to people would be because of her ‘disease’. It was easier to get pushed down from behind rather than from the front. She would be one of the weird kids, but she could handle that.

“Bist du bereit?” she heard the familiar German voice, “Come on! We’re going to leave without you.”

Closing the window, she grabbed her school bag and headed for the door, “Quit it with the German. No one knows what you’re saying,” she snipped as she passed him.

“Don’t get like that with me. I don’t want to be late for my first day. Aren’t you excited?”

“Not really. It’s just school. Books and homework,” she shrugged as they started down the main staircase, stepping over bits of broken glass that hadn’t been cleaned up yet.

“It’s more than that. We get to be around other people our age. We get to eat lunch with other kids. We get to be in study groups and go to parties,” he listed off at least a dozen other things, but she stopped paying attention. Most of those things didn’t matter to her in the least bit. Lili never watched tv thinking she could be like those people or wishing she was part of their world (as that silly mermaid did). She just wanted to have some form of a life on her own. If she had to go to highschool to do that, then so be it, but she wasn’t going to be someone else to do it, “You listening?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah...” she came back to reality and climbed into Scott’s car with the others, “Caught every word, Blue Boy.”

“I see you two got your image inducers, how do you like them?” the pretty redhead questioned from the front seat. Lili didn’t like the look she saw the other girl give her in the car mirror. Like she was upset or disgusted with the appearance Lili had selected. She had a feeling that Jean was a nice girl, but didn’t like the thought of someone like Lili walking near her. She told herself that Jean didn’t mean to give such a look. It was likely a look out of shock that the avian girl didn’t want to look more normal. Not like it was anyone's business but her own.

“I like mine just fine. Works like a charm, don’t you think?” it came out a bit more snappy than she meant for it to, but oh well, “My wings are all that need to be hidden, so it works great.”

“Ja! I love it,” Kurt chimed in.

Scott smiled, “You both look great,” to which Lili hid a blush. She barely knew him, but it was one of those cutesy crushes. Nothing to make anything out of and something she knew she would get over. No point drooling over a guy with movie star looks. He was a cute guy and the first she’d met, other than Kurt. It would pass as quickly as her little crushes on the guys she saw on tv.

***

School was a lot like she was expecting. A lot of noise and lots of people. So many kids talking and pushing around. Lockings clanging and every now and again, she would hear music from someone’s cd player as they walked by. Lili always wanted a cd player. She liked music. Maybe it would help that jittery feeling in her stomach if she couldn’t hear everyone else. She wondered if her parents would buy her one now that she wasn’t living at home. Using a bit of ‘leaving home guilt’ couldn’t hurt anything.

The principal, Ms. Darkholme, gave them their class schedules and showed them to their first classes. Kurt had biology and she had social studies. Kurt was brushed off quickly, but Ms. Darkholme grabbed her shoulder lightly before she could get into her class, “Miss. Kline, how long have you been attending the Xavier Institute?”

“Uh, just since yesterday. My parents submitted my test scores to him a few months ago,” was that the story? Close enough for jazz, she assumed, “I’m really happy to have been accepted both there and here.”

“Yes, well, Bayville High is a very accepting place. We accept students from all walks of life, with all sorts of special skills...” the woman smiled softly, “I help fund a small group of advanced students myself. So if you ever need any help or just want to talk, please let me know. Won’t you?”

Lili was uncomfortable with the conversation. Did the principal know they were mutants? Did she have her own group of mutant students? If so, why didn’t the Professor mention it? No. She decided that this was all about her test scores, “Of course I will, Ms. Darkholme. Thank you,” she pulled her shoulder from the light grasp, “But I think I can take care of myself. I’m pretty self reliant.”

“I’m sure you are, Miss. Kline. Have a good day,” with that, she headed off down the hall. Lili shuddered a little and waited for the clicking of the principle’s heels to disappear before she slipped into the class.

Much like the school itself, the classroom setting was exactly as she was expecting. TV might not always be honest or truthful, but it did have some valid points. It showed her that classrooms were small rooms with any number of students sitting at small desks with a teacher at the front. The students didn’t always pay attention or learn anything, but that happened in all group settings. This room was no different, but there was one small thing. Everyone was staring at her. Lili didn’t like that one bit. Especially when she saw a small group in the back lean in towards each other and one sucked his cheeks in to make them sunken.

“Miss. Kline, I presume,” the teacher said softly. Her only response was to clench her bag tighter and nod, “Good. Why don’t you take a seat there?” he pointed to an empty desk near the group in the back. She hesitated and let her eyes scan the class for a moment. She saw the boy who had busted into the institute and fought Kurt last night. He had his head down on the desk and appeared to be fast asleep. No one was sitting around him.

As she took a step towards the empty seat, she felt her chest tighten. Her stomach felt heavy and her legs turned to stone. The fingers clenching the strap of her bag got tighter and she felt her fingernails bite into her palms. Something wasn’t right. She was going to be sick, she was sure of it. It was a terrible feeling that she’d never had before. It wasn’t illness. It was new and she didn’t like it.

“Something wrong, Miss. Kline?” the teacher took a step towards her and she stepped back, “Miss. Kline?”

“I...I have to go...” with that, Lili turned quickly and stumbled over her own feet as she ran as fast as she could out of the room, stumbling over her own feet as she went down the hallway. She ignored the sound of the teacher calling for her to come back. There was no way in hell that was going to happen.

She ran till she found a door with an exit sign and ran through it. School wasn’t for her. She would just stay at the institute and keep up with homeschooling or she’d go back home. This was proof that she couldn’t live on her own. There was no shame in that. She was safer there anyway. No students, classrooms, or noise. Just the comfort of her own room. Didn’t matter if it was at the institute or her parents home. Just not here.

Lili was already pushing through another door when she realized that she’d just run up stairs. As far as she knew, this was only a two story building and she’d already been on the top floor. Bright sunlight made her wince, “The roof...” she muttered. She started back for the door when a bell rang. The halls would be crowded, “Best to stay here for a bit,” and figure out her story for the Professor.

Heading for a raised corner, Lili sat on the ground and propped herself against her wings and the wall. She knew what the feeling in the classroom was now. It was fear. She’d never had a reason to feel it before. Lili wasn’t even fully sure what had caused it. Probably everything. It made her feel pathetic. She bet Kurt didn’t freak out like that. Jean and Scott probably never did either, “Now they know I’m a freak. I’m so stupid,” she pitied herself as she lowered her head to her knees.

The sound of clicking heels didn’t register in her mind, but the voice did, “Miss. Kline, skipping out of classes will get you nothing but detentions. It’s hardly a good way to start a new school. You don’t want to have a reputation, now do you?” it was Ms. Darkholme.

Lili quickly shot up from the ground, “Ms. Darkholme, I...I’m sorry. I just...I don’t know what happened. I’ve never, uh, never...” what was she supposed to say?

“Don’t worry, Miss. Kline, I’ll let it go this one time, but only this one time. I’m not a lenient woman,” she circled Lili for a moment, “I know you were homeschooled. I also know you lied to me, Miss. Kline. I don’t appreciate that. I checked your records. Your test scores were dated only just yesterday. So they weren’t submitted to the Xavier Institute months ago. I don’t like lies.”

She stood a little straighter and focused her eyes on the principal, “Unless there is an issue with my scores, I really don’t think it matters when they were dated. Those my scores, no one elses.”

“And why should I believe that and not have your put on suspension and investigated? One lie means that there are others, Miss. Kline. You’ve already ditched class and lied about your records. That alone is enough to have you expelled or at least suspended. Ditching your first class on your first day, seems pretty clear to me that you don’t want to be here. Which means you were lying as well when you said that you were happy to be accepted here.”

The woman made good points and she felt her chest getting tight again. She felt like she was going to be sick. What did an investigation mean? Would they go after the Professor or her parents? What if they went to the Institute and found out about them all being mutants? It would all be her fault. All because she was scared, “Those are my scores. I worked hard to earn them. I’m a smart girl and I don’t much like being threatened.”

“Then I supposed you’ll just have to prove it. Though since both you, your parents, and apparently Xavier has lied about your test records; I won’t accept them from anyone else than my own employees,” she crossed her arms and smirked, as if challenging Lili to say anything against it.

Lili’s eyes went to the ground for a moment. That meant she had to come to school and be in a classroom surrounded by other people. She’d never thought before in her life that she would be scared of groups. She just assumed that if she ever got the chance that she would just fit in and be able to handle it. That was, obviously, not the case. But this woman wasn’t just calling her a liar, she was challenging her intelligence. Lili wasn’t the smartest person in the world, but she knew she wasn’t stupid. She had no reason to fake test scores. Finally, she looked up and locked eyes with the Principal, “That’s fine, Ms. Darkholme. Those are my scores and I can only do better than them. I will never do less.”

“Very well, Miss. Kline, but the moment I see your grades slip up, you’re going on suspension and I will start an investigation into fraud. Understand?”

“Of course. I’m very good at comprehending things. After all, I got high scores in my Literature testing, didn’t I?” she gave the woman a smirk right back.

“We’ll see about that. Have a good day, Miss. Kline,” she turned her back to the teenage girl and headed off towards the stairs, “Don’t miss second period. I already promised to waive you for first period, but I won’t be doing that again. You have two minutes to get in class. I’ll be keeping my eye on you,” the door slammed shut behind her and Lili stuck out her tongue.

“I hope the door hits you, Witch,” she sneered as she reached down to grab her bag. It was only when she straightened up that she realized she had two minutes to get down the stairs and find her next class. She didn’t even know where the room was. It was her chemistry class. She didn’t know where Scott, Jean, or even Kurt were to ask, “Dammit,” she growled and rushed towards the door.

Taking the stairs down two at a time, she came flying out the door and tumbled into someone, “Sorry, gotta go,” she said quickly and started to rush off, but the person apparently didn’t like her apology.

“Hey, hey, you can’t just tackle someone and rush off. It’s rude,” looking over her shoulder she was surprised to see the strange boy that fought with Kurt the night before hopping, not walking, after her, “You owe me a better apology.”

“I’ll do it later. I got to get to class,” she flailed a hand behind her as she continued to scan the rooms as she rushed down the halls, “So unless you know where the chemistry lab is, I’m not stopping to take care of your hurt pride.”

Before she knew it, she found herself being pushed to the ground and she used her book bag to break her fall instead of her hands or arms, this saved her from a wrist break or arm fracture. The hopping boy was on top of her back, “What’s up with your back? It’s all weird feelin’,” he said and she started to panic.

“Get off of me! Get off!” she flailed and kicked till he went tumbling off, “Don’t touch me!” she yelled enough to get her point across, but not to call attention to anyone that was already in the classrooms. Just as she finished, the bell rang, “Great! Just great! I’m late and it’s your fault, you jerk!”

“Don’t take it out on me. I’m just doin’ what I was told to do,” he shrugged and took off down the hallway, “Chemistry lab is down the hall on the left,” he called out before hopping around the corner.

Lili stared after him blankly. She didn’t understand what he said about doing what he was told. Shaking her head, she knew she didn’t have the time to think about it or figure it out. She had to get to class and tell the teacher that she was new and got lost. That would save her, surely. An excuse that only worked once and she was willing to use it now.

Jogging in the direction the boy had told her, she frowned when she saw Ms. Darkholme standing next to the door, “You’re late, Miss. Kline. Detention this Friday,” the woman held out a yellow slip of paper and waited for the girl to take it.

“You knew I wouldn’t make it in time. I didn’t know where the class was,” she took the paper with a depressed look on her face, “You’re really going to hold this against me? Someone tackled me in the hallway. I have a bone disease. I could have broken my wrists.”

“No excuse, Miss. Kline. I expect you in the library for detention on Friday at six in the morning. No excuses. Understand?”

“...I understand. Don’t like it, but I understand,” she submitted.

The woman gave that annoying smirk again, “I don’t need you to like my policies. I just need you to follow them. Now get to class,” she pointed to the door and Lili shuffled inside.

Strangely enough, she found an empty seat on her own and pulled out her notebook. There was no tightness in her chest and no feeling like she couldn’t breath. The other students looked at her for a few moments, but most of them forgot she was even there once the teacher started talking. She’d deal with the frog boy later. For now, she had to focus on her school work and prove to Ms. Darkholme that she wasn’t a liar and those were her test scores.

Lili knew she had very few chances in life. She knew what she was and how that would limit her. Even if she was able to live on her own one day, she knew it would be a limited life. Still, she wasn’t going to let Ms. Darkholme label her a liar or a cheat. Her grades were about the only things she was allowed to have. No friends. No parties. No even going for little walks. Ms. Darkholme wasn’t going to take away the one thing she had, “Screw her...” she muttered under her breath before going to taking notes.


	3. Chapter 3

“I can’t believe you got detention already. That’s gotta be some kind of record,” she sighed as the blue boy hung from the ceiling and teased her, “Ms. Darkholme must really not like you. What’d you do to her?”

Lili crossed her arms and sunk as low as she could into the couch, “I didn’t do anything to her. She just doesn’t like me. I was one minute late to a class. That’s it,” she defended herself as Kurt fell from the ceiling only to disappear into smoke for a moment before reappearing on the couch next to her. She waved her hand in front of her face a bit to clear the smoke, “Why does it smell like matches when you do that? If it wasn’t for the actual smoke, it wouldn’t be that bad.”

Kurt shrugged, “Don’t know. It’s just always been like that. Why were you late for class? Didn’t you ask someone where to go?”

“No. I got a little lost and then someone tripped me and by the time I got up, I was late. I tried to explain that to her, but she didn’t care.”

“Have you told the Professor yet?” to which Lili shook her head, “But Friday is tomorrow. He’s going to find out when you have to go to school two hours early.”

“No he’s not. Not if a certain fuzzy guy keeps his mouth shut. It’s just detention. It’s not life or death. I heard him and Jean talking. They found two other mutants a few states away. They’re going to be leaving tonight to go talk to them. So both Jean and the Professor are going to be gone tomorrow morning. He doesn’t have to know that I had detention. I don’t want to disappoint him so soon.”

“But you said it’s just detention, so I’m sure he’d understand. Ja?”

“Not taking a chance on that. Kurt, you can’t tell him. Okay? I’m going to get up early and walk to school. I’m not going to let anyone drive me. I’ll be fine. It’s not very far and if anyone asks, I’ll just say that I’m working on a research paper. That is, I will, if someone keeps their mouth shut...” she glanced over at him with a pleading look, “Please, Kurt. I’ve never been in trouble in my life. The Professor brought me here because he thought I deserved a chance. I don’t want to disappoint him. Please...”

Flinging his hands up in the air, he groaned loudly, “Fine. I won’t lie for you though. If anyone asks, I’m just going to shrug, but if they push it, I will tell them. Got it?”

“Got it. Thank you,” she smiled and hugged him lightly with one arm around his shoulders, “So who do you think the other mutants are?”

“No clue. You’re the one who heard them talking about it. What all did you hear?”

“Not much. Just that there was a girl and a guy. The Professor told Jean to talk to the girl and that he would make contact with the guy. I wonder if they are our age. Maybe they’ll be like us and that guy who jumped you the other night.”

Kurt shuddered, “Don’t remind me of that. That dude was disgusting. I saw him in the halls at school the other day. He didn’t recognize me. I saw him hop out a window on the second floor. No one else seemed to notice it.”

“I don’t know. He’s not that disgusting. Smells a little funny and says some weird things, but I don’t think he’s hopeless or anything,” the confused look the other gave her let her know she needed to explain a little bit more, “He tackled me in the hall our first day. He’s the reason I was late for class. I ran into him first coming out of a door and he didn’t seem to like my apology. So he chased me and tackled me. Once the bell rang, he said he was just doing what he was told and hopped off. I didn’t think much about it” she shrugged, “I haven’t seen him since. He doesn’t seem the type to like school very much. I think he’s supposed to be in my first class, but I’ve only seen him in there once.”

“Doing what he was told? Who told him to tackle you? That’s weird. We should tell the Professor or Logan,” but Lili shook her head, “He broke in here. He threatened to take my head off. Then he chases you down and says he was doing what he was told. Scott told me that he’s a creep that like to steal. I really think you should tell someone.”

“I told you. I haven’t seen him since. He’s just a weird kid. Not that different from ourselves, right?”

Kurt struggled to answer, but he finally submitted, “Ja. I guess so, but if he bothers you again, you should tell someone. Okay?” she nodded, “If I’d know you were going to be such a handful, I would have never talked to you on the train,” he teased as he climbed up from the couch, “Good luck with detention.”

“I’ll be fine,” she assured him, “It’s just detention. What could go wrong?”

***

Even when living with her parents, Lili had never once in her life been required to be awake before eight in the morning. It was hard enough getting up at seven to be at school on time this past week. She had to get up extra early today. She didn’t know how long it would take to get there from the Institute. At least an hour. She had to be there at six, so that meant getting up at least by four-thirty in the morning. She felt miserable.

Slipping the image inducer around her neck, she clicked it on and bent over to tie her shoes. No sooner she did that, she fell back on her bed and curled up. This was awful. Maybe she should have just told the Professor and took whatever punishment there was. Too late now. She could go bother Kurt to just teleport her there, but she wasn’t going to do that. This was her problem, not his. He was already going to cover for her, somewhat.

Groaning, she forced herself off the bed and crept through the mansion. She thought she would get out easily. The two telepaths were gone and Logan was likely still sleeping. It would be simple. Just slip out and head off down the road into town. It was a small enough area that she didn’t think anyone would be up and moving around too much yet.

The cool morning air made her shiver a little bit and she thought about going back in to get her shawl, but decided against it. Getting out once was stressful enough. She didn’t need to do it again and risk getting caught just for a piece of cloth. She’d warm up as she walked or jogged, she decided.

Once at the mansion gate, she slipped through the bars and was surprised to see Scott’s car sitting there with both Scott and Kurt sitting in the front seat. A frown crossed her face as she looked at the blue boy, who was already wearing his inducer. He made a point not to look directly at her as Scott spoke, “Don’t get upset with him. He didn’t say anything. I heard you two talking yesterday. I told him we should wait for you here. It’s not a highly dangerous place, but it’s easy to get lost when you don’t know your way around. Plus, those inducers might be great, but they can still malfunction. I don’t know how well your wings work and I’d hate for you to risk your safety having to walk home like that. So hop in.”

Lili didn’t say anything. She just walked over and tossed her book bag into the car before climbing in, “You know, the Professor X won’t be disappointed with you for one detention. Everyone gets at least one. Darkholme is strict and I think she enjoys handing them out. Next time, just be honest with the Professor, okay?”

Crossing her arms, she nodded, “I could have handled myself if my inducer messed up. I might not be able to fly yet, but there are enough trees around here to hide in,” she felt the need to push the fact that she wasn’t completely helpless.

“I’m sure you can, Lili, but we protect each other. It’s not good to ask other people to lie for you,” Kurt hung his head a little when Scott said that, “I know you’re not up to date on social rules, but asking someone to lie for you is a bad thing. It can backfire easily and if you did get hurt, it would be their fault as well as yours.”

Her attraction to the sunglasses wearing teen diminished a little as he spoke. She didn’t need a lecture from someone her age. She’d noticed over the week she’d been here that Scott seemed to have some kind of stick frozen up his backside. He was cute, that was for sure, but she felt her crush wearing off very quickly. He reminded her of her father. Nice, but strict. Kind of like the Professor. He had those leadership qualities that made her want to roll her eyes sometimes.

***

The drive to the school was uneventful and it was eerie to see the place so dark and empty. There were only a few lights on and the flag wasn’t even up waving yet. Lili didn’t like it, “Kurt and I are going to go do some training on the field. We’ll see you when classes start.”

“Alright,” she said softly as she climbed out and headed up the front stairs. It took her a moment to remember where the library was, but she found her way and headed inside. There was a teacher sitting by the checkout station. He looked like he was sleeping and she thought about just leaving if he wasn’t going to be paying attention, but decided against that. Best not to get on the principal’s bad side again so soon.

She dropped her detention slip on the table in front of the dozing teacher and sat down at one of the long study tables. She wished, again, that she had a cd player. She’d tried to call her parents to ask for one and just to talk to them, but they never answered the phone. Lili was starting to wonder if they were glad she was gone. They’d spent their whole lives having to hide her. Never being able to make friends of their own or do anything that involved leaving her home alone for more than a shopping trip. They were probably enjoying themselves with her gone.

Sighing, she slumped over the desk and enjoyed the feel of the cool desktop on her cheek. She was still upset about Scott thinking she needed help. Sure, she looked helpless and there were somethings that she was helpless in, but coming to detention was hardly one of those things. She could handle that on her own. Did Scott do that to Jean? If so, she wondered if the redhead had ever slapped him for it. Lili was tempted.

There were a lot of things about herself that she realized this past week that there was no reason to realize before. At home, her parents did most things for her. She still had to clean her room, do dishes, and do her laundry; but it was the fact that she couldn’t leave her house that made it to where her parents had to take care of her so much. Yet now she could leave the house. People would still look at her strangely if they even took the time to look in the first place, but she could do things on her own now and she found that she liked it. She didn’t need someone driving her everywhere or taking care of her constantly.

“Rude babe,” the voice made her head shoot up and she saw the frog like boy sliding into the chair across from her, “Havin’ fun?”

Her fists clenched under the table as she leaned across the table and hissed through her teeth, “It’s your fault I’m here, you jerk. If you wouldn’t have jumped me, I would have made it to class on time,” his only response was a shrug that made her more angry, “I should punch you in the throat.”

A wide grin spread across his face, “Doubt it. You got that bone thing. You’ll crack a few knuckles if you do that, Babe.”

“Don’t call me that. It would be worth it to get back at you. Bones heal, but your pride won’t,” she growled, “And how do you know about my bones?” as far as she knew, only the teachers and the other kids at the institute knew about that.

“I’m smart like that,” he muttered as he wiggled a finger around in one ear and flicked the wax away as she grimaced, “I know things. Lotta things.”

Rolling her eyes, she leaned back as much as she could in the chair with her wings, “Can’t be too smart using words like ‘lotta’. That’s not a real word,” to which he shrugged again, “Why don’t you go sit somewhere else?”

“Cause you and me, we’re a lot alike, aren’t we? I saw you at that freak school the other night. You’re one of those goodie-goodie X-Men,” her eyes widened. She knew he was a mutant. The Professor had told her that much. But how much did he really know? She knew he wouldn’t be going around blabbing about it. Not like anyone would believe him anyway. She didn’t know much about him, but he didn’t seem like a reliable source of information. Plus, who would believe that there were mutants with superpowers roaming around? No one that she could think of.

“Piss off,” she snapped before getting up and moving to a different table.

“Hey, I’m just doin’ what I was told to do,” he shrugged and leapt from his chair, knocking it over as he hopped towards the door.

Confused, Lili stood up to go after him, “What do you mean by that? Get back here!” she snapped as she started to run for the door, but the teacher up front woke from the noise and ordered her to sit back down.

Lili did as she was told. She saw, but she didn’t forget. It was the second time that guy had said that to her. Who the hell would want to land her in detention and get her in trouble? It’s not like she was all that powerful or anything. Wouldn’t they rather go after someone like Jean, Scott, or even Kurt? She was a mutant, but she certainly wasn’t special enough to deserve this kind of attention.

Maybe that was why they were going after her. Because she was some kind of weak link. If she got expelled, that would look bad on Xavier for taking her in. Was that what they were going after? If seemed reasonable and it made her feel pitiful. She was weak, but was she that helpless? Maybe she should have chosen a better appearance. Too late for that. Better to focus on something other than that. To think about something she could actually fix.

Lili pulled out a sheet of paper and started to think about anyone that would want to hurt the Professor. That was a bust in the end. She didn’t know enough about the man to know what kind of friends or enemies he had. She was new here and no one should know anything about her. Sure, some kids looked at her funny, but never maliciously. The only people that had caused her any problems were the toad boy and Ms. Darkholme.

Could the principal know she was a mutant and hire another to make life difficult for her? The woman was strict and heartless, apparently. Maybe she hated mutants and was willing to use others to drive them away.

It wasn’t like she could just confront the woman about it. That would cause too many other problems, but a little investigating couldn’t hurt.

***

Detention ended about ten minutes before first period. Lili found herself sitting in an uncomfortable chair outside the principal’s office. She wasn’t there long before the imposing woman invited her into the office, “Make this quick, Miss. Kline. I have a busy schedule today.”

“I’m sure you do, Ms. Darkholme. I’ll make this as fast as I can. I just wanted to say that I was sorry for the way I acted on my first day. I was nervous and flustered. Because of my bone disorder, I’ve never been around a large group of people before in my life. My parents always kept me inside. So when I went into the classroom at first, I panicked. I thought I could handle it, but then when it actually came time, I couldn’t. So I ran out. I know you don’t like excuses, but I thought you should know why it happened. You found me on the roof after my little panic attack. I really should be thanking you for the way you treated me. It gave me the courage to go back to class and face my fears. I just wanted to say thank you,” Lili didn’t like the smug look on the woman’s face.

“I must say, Miss. Kline, I’m very surprised to hear that. Do you have anything else to say?”

She nodded before going on, “You were right. The dates on my scores were wrong. My family didn’t submit my scores to the Xavier Institute. The Professor came to my family. I’m grateful he allowed me to come here and start a life of my own, but I must admit, Ms. Darkholme, I don’t feel quite right there.”

“Oh? How so? Is the Professor not treating you well? I hardly think that is something I can take care of for you,” she most certainly wasn’t the caring individual that most principals were made out to be. Weren’t they supposed to help their students? Apparently Ms. Darkholme never got that message.

“Nothing like that. He treats me just fine. I just don’t think I fit in with the others there. I just feel as if my skills would be better suited somewhere else. The Professor doesn’t like us portraying ourselves as advanced. He just wants us to fit in. I don’t think I can do that. You mentioned that you fund a group of advanced students yourself. I was wondering if there was any way I could give it a try? If not, I’d understand.”

Lili watched the woman lean back in her chair for a moment in thought, “I’m not sure you’d fit in with my students, but I suppose there is no harm in giving it a try. Not today though. As I said earlier, I’m very busy. Actually, I’m going to be very busy for a few days. I have several teaching conferences this week and next week. Think you can wait that long?”

“Of course,” she smiled and stood up, “Thank you, Ms. Darkholme. I’ll see you next week,” with that taken care of, she headed out just in time to hear the bell for first period ring. She’d thought she wouldn’t see Ms. Darkholme again, but the woman was right behind her with another detention slip. Lili wanted to snap, but she clenched her jaw and took it, “Guess I’m not the greatest at time management,” she muttered before walking off.

***

“She must really hate you,” Kurt laughed as Lili shoved the detention slip into her bag, “No sneaking out this time.”

Lili huffed, “Shut up. I’m just not good at remembering where my classrooms are yet. I’ll get the hang of it,” she lied, “My parents house was tiny. All I ever had to remember was where the bathroom was,” she shrugged, “I still get lost in the mansion too,” which wasn’t a lie. That place had more rooms than the school.

“Oh, the Professor is back,” he pointed out the main window and she stood up quickly, “Going to tell him this time?” and her response was to stomp on his foot, “Hey!” and he teleported away as the Professor, Jean, and a girl Lili didn’t know came through the door.

The other girl was pretty. Not gorgeous like Jean, but very girl next door cute. A simple pony tail for her brown hair, white shirt with a pink sweater, and blue jeans. She looked just like all the other girls at school, but Lili knew if she was here, then she couldn’t be just like them, “Hello, Lili. I take it you had a good day at school?” she froze. Did he know she had detention and what she’d talked with the Principal about? She still wasn’t entirely sure how powerful he was or if he would peek inside her head without her permission.

“It was fine. I, uh, was late for first period. Ms. Darkholme gave me detention for Saturday...”

“Well, these things happen. I’ll have Logan drop you off and Scott pick you up for it, okay?” she nodded, “Lili, this is Kitty Pryde. She’s going to be attending Bayville on Monday with Kurt and yourself. Do you mind showing her around a little bit if you have classes together,” she nodded again, “Good. Kitty, if you’ll follow me, we’ll get everything squared away for Monday morning and introduce you to the others.”

The girl didn’t talk. Just nodded as Lili did and followed after the Professor as he lead her to the study room behind the staircase. She seemed shaken. Lili couldn’t even imagine what had made the Kitty girl seem nervous and scared. It didn’t occur to her that most mutants weren’t born with their abilities active like Kurt and herself were. Nor did she think that powers could change. She figured you were born with what you got.

For now, she had more important things to think about. She was going to figure out if it was Ms. Darkholme sending that toad boy after her. If so, she wanted to know why and how to stop it. She just wanted to go to school and learn how to live a life on her own. That couldn’t be too much to ask for, could it?


	4. Chapter 4

“You girls need to hurry up. This is crazy! Other people need to use the bathrooms too!” the blue boy banged on the door loudly, “Come on! I can’t believe a building this big only has one bathroom,” he ranted on, “That bathroom is big enough for three people! You need to share it in the mornings! Ugh! Girls!” he seemed to finally give up as he started off down the hallway.

“Better luck tomorrow, Kurt,” she smiled as she slung her bag over her shoulder, “Maybe you should start showering at night. It takes you forever to dry anyway.”

The boy rolled his yellow eyes before turning his inducer on, “It’s just Jean and Kitty. It’s always them. At least I don’t have to fight you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she frowned as they started towards the door to Scott’s car.

“Nothing bad. You have an inducer like me. So long as we shower, we don’t really have to spend a lot of time in the bathroom. We always look ready to go,” he waved his hands in front of himself in defense, “I really didn’t mean anything bad about it.”

“Kurt, you do realize that the only thing my inducer does is hide my wings, right? I don’t use it to alter my appearance. I just don’t care to spend all that time in the bathroom. I shower at night and I can brush my hair without a mirror...Do you think I need to start doing all that stuff Jean and Kitty does?” Lili didn’t think much on her appearances. It wasn’t normal for her to. The only thing she used a mirror for was to make sure nothing was stuck in her teeth. There was no reason for her to care what her hair or face or anything really looked like. Maybe it would be more ‘normal’ for her to start caring about that stuff.

He shook his head, “Are you kidding me? I’d have to fight three girls for bathroom rights,” but it wasn’t really the answer she was hoping to hear.

As they all finally piled into the car and started for school, Lili wondered if she could make small weight adjustments to her inducer over the next few months. Nothing dramatic or sudden, but make it looks like she was gaining weight slowly. Somehow, she knew that wouldn’t work. There was no way she’d be able to convince people she looked like a normal teenage girl without surgery of some kind. She doubted the Professor would let her take any time off from school to fake surgery. He’d warned her that she had to pick her inducer image carefully.

Lili had never thought herself shallow, but she supposed that was because she never had a reason to be before. In her parents house, there was no reason for her to care about her appearance. She didn’t have to deal with feeling jealous of other girls.

It made her upset to see two guys chasing after Jean. Scott was nice, cute, and strong; and he obviously loved the redhead. Yet she was dating the football star, Duncan. The blond man wasn’t terrible, but Jean could certainly do better when it came to personality. It was easy to tell, sometimes, that Jean liked Scott. So why didn’t she just dump Duncan and date Scott? What was so hard about that? Why did she have to make them go after each other for her affection? Did all girls do that?

Kitty, on the other hand, seemed too nice and innocent to do something like letting two guys fight over her. Kitty was just cute and smart. She was nice and didn’t seem to mind talking with Lili. Their bedrooms were right next to each other and they had talked a bit over the weekend.

Lili learned that Kitty was not born with her mutant powers, nor was she terribly good at controlling them yet. Basically, the cute girl could walk through walls. That seemed rather amazing to Lili. She’d rather be able to do that than to have wings that she couldn’t even use yet. Kitty told her that the Professor had said that most mutants don’t know they are mutants till around their age. She’d told the brown haired girl that she wished that was the case with herself. Then again, it probably would have been too much of a shock to her system to wake up one day with wings sprouting out of her back rather than having them her whole life.

“So, is the school big?”

“Ja, a little bit. There’s a lot of people, but everyone seems pretty friendly,” Kitty frowned a little as Kurt answered her. The new girl didn’t seem to like the blue, fuzzy boy very much. He seemed to scare her or creep her out. Lili, honestly, didn’t blame her. She’d probably feel the same way if she had come from being the average-teenage-girl to being a mutant, “Something wrong, Kitty?”

“Uh, no...Just thinking,” she gave a nervous giggle as she scooted over in her seat a little bit.

Lili leaned over and whispered, “He’s really nice. You should spend some time with him,” she didn’t consider Kurt her best friend or anything, but at the moment, they were the only two that didn’t look like average humans. So they had to stick together. Kurt was nice and Kitty should give him a chance to be friends.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” the girl muttered before hugging her book bag. Lili just frowned and sat back in her seat. She wasn’t going to argue with anyone today. She had things of her own to handle without starting trouble.

***

“Hey, you haven’t seen Tolansky anywhere, have you?” it was almost sixth period and Lili had spent most of her day trying to track down that toad boy. She knew his last name, but hadn’t really learned anything else about him (except for the fact that he liked to steal), “I had twenty dollars in my locker and now it’s gone. It was in there before fifth period and he’s supposed to be in that class with me.”

“It probably was him then, if he wasn’t in class. That little jerk is going to get it one of these days,” one of the students she asked finally had an answer that was useful to her, “He’s always doing things like that. I don’t see why Darkholme doesn’t just expel him. Not like he contributes anything to the school, except for that smell,” the other girl wrinkled her nose, “You’re not going to see that money again, but I did see him doing that weird hopping thing he does down towards the gym. I hear he likes to hang out behind the bleachers. If you do get your money from him, see if you can get an extra ten that he stole from me last month.”

“Will do. Thanks,” she smiled and headed off towards the gym. She’d opted to serve her detention during lunch hour so that she wouldn’t have to come in early or stay late. But also so she would have time to do what she needed to. This probably would earn her another detention, because she was going to skip sixth period, but Ms. Darkholme was out of town and the vice principal was much more relaxed about these things.

Lili had a plan in her mind. Well, maybe not a full plan. She was partly making it up as she went along. She knew full well that this would likely blow up in her face, but she really didn’t see that she had much to lose. Even if the mutant boy went and told whoever he was working for about it, it wouldn’t likely change anything. They certainly weren’t out to kill her, she’d probably be dead already if that was what they were wanting. This was just a little information gathering.

She was glad to see that the information she had gotten was correct. She saw him almost immediately as she entered the gym. He was sitting under the bleachers and she caught a glimpse of him through the gaps between the seats. He was facing the back wall and hunched over. What he could enjoy sitting under there was a mystery to her, but the gym did seem quiet. Maybe if she chased him off, then she could hang out here between classes. That didn’t seem like such a bad idea overall, but only because she was still searching for a way to deal with the loudness of school.

Setting her bag down a few feet from the bleachers, she tiptoed to the benches and climbed a few of them as quietly as she could. Reaching her arm through the gap, she grabbed the back of his shirt and held tightly as he immediately yelled out and tried to jump away. Lili was sure her pinkie finger broke, but she didn’t loosen her grip. He had some damn powerful legs. Her fingernails tore through the thin, old shirt he was wearing and she twisted her hand to keep a hold on it, “Quit jumping! You’re going to break my wrist!” she finally snapped, “I just want to talk to you!”

“Then let me go,” he growled and jumped again, slamming her arm against the bleacher gap.

Lili knew the only reason he was still there was because of how she’d grabbed him. If she’d sneaked up on him under the bleachers, he would have been able to drag her for a moment and then get away when she lost her grip. This way he couldn’t drag her, “No. The moment I let go, you’re gonna run. Your small enough, climb up here through the gap,” that way she wouldn’t have to let go.

“Not a chance, Babe. You come down here,” he sniffed.

“I can’t,” her wings would get in the way, “I’m the one holding you. You come up here.”

“You gonna let go when I get up there?”

“No. Now get up here,” she ordered. He sat still for a moment before grunting and awkwardly climbed his way through the back of the bleachers. Her hand was bruised badly, but it was still tightly wrapped around his shirt. She was positive her pinkie was broken now that she could see it. It was bent in a very awkward way. Lili was no stranger to broken bones. It was, apparently, part of her mutation to have weak bones. The Professor explained to her that while she’d been born with her mutations active and some were not, all of them would continue to evolve, so there was a chance that her bones would eventually evolve as well. She hoped so. About the only bearable things about her bones was the pain was only mild when they broke.

“I’m up here. What do you want?” he plopped down on the bench and tried to wiggle a bit to get her to let go, but she didn’t.

“I just want to talk. I know what you are and you know what I am. I figured we could talk about it...” she said with a small shrug. The look he gave her told her that he didn’t believe her, “Really. I do. The Professor told me you were a mutant and he was hoping you’d join us at the Institute. Why didn’t you? Why’d you break in and attack Kurt?”

The boy shrugged, “Heck if I know. I barely remember anything about it. Just that I was there. I saw you on the stairs for about a minute, then chasing after that fuzzy freak,” she twisted her hand to tighten the collar of his shirt for calling Kurt a freak, “Hey, I call myself one too. You too. That’s what we are. We ain’t the pretty ones. We don’t belong at the nice mansion. We belong somewhere else...”

“Where’s that at?”

“None of your business, for now. Now let me go,” he started to struggle again and she held fast, ignoring the growing pain shooting up her arm. There had to be something else broken or at least fractured.

Lili shook her head, “I’m not done talking. You’ve told me, twice, that you were just doing what you were told. Why would someone want me to get into trouble? Like you said, I’m just a freak. It doesn’t do anyone any good for me to get into trouble. If you can’t tell me why, then at least tell me who is putting you up to it. From one freak to another,” she tried to appeal to him.

That didn’t work, “Like I said before, none of your business. There ain’t nothin’ you can do to make me talk about it. So you might as well let me go.”

She had one more thing to try, though it was a longshot, “Are you sure there’s nothing I can do?” she bat her eyelashes and circled the index finger of her free hand on the back of one of his hands. She’d seen Jean do things like that to Duncan. It always made him do what she wanted. Though she felt weird doing it and she was sure her eyelash fluttering came off more as twitching, “We could have lunch together or work on that chemistry project together.”

For some reason, this made the boy burst out laughing, “Boy, you really don’t know nothin’, do ya?” he laughed harder and she finally released her hold on his shirt, “You’re gonna have to offer somethin’ better than lunch or school work to get me to talk. Judgin’ by that look on your face, I ain’t gonna be the one to explain it to you. Even if you did, you ain’t my type,” with that, he leapt off the bleachers.

It took her a moment to understand part of what he was saying, “Hey! So what, you only have lunch with pretty girls or something?!” she shouted after him, “That’s a little jerky.”

“You got it!” and he hopped out the doors.

Lili gave a sarcastic snort as she rolled her eyes, “Creep,” she muttered as she went to cross her arms. A pang of pain shot up her right arm and she winced as she remembered the broken hand. It looked bad. She could see the small bulge on her pinkie finger where the bone was pushing up. Her wrist was swollen, if it wasn’t for the color, it would be the size of the average girls wrist. It wasn’t the first time she’d broken a bone.

Like most children, Lili ran rampant at times growing up. It was a little different for her though. Since she couldn’t go outside, she did most of her exploring in the house. There were a lot of falls and bumps. It had been hard on her parents when that happened. It was always a matter of having enough money to pay off a doctor. After a while, she got good at dealing with it on her own.

Wrapping her good hand around her broken one, Lili pushed hard till she heard a sick pop, “Ah...” she whimpered as the bone forced itself back into place. She held the hand to her chest and inhaled deeply, “That jerk,” she blamed Tolansky for her hand. If he hadn’t jumped so much, then it wouldn’t have happened. If he hadn’t panicked, they might have been able to talk more too.

“That’s pretty intense. You should probably see a doctor about that,” her eyes went wide as she looked up and saw someone she didn’t recognize. He was about Scott’s height with shaggy, long, brown hair. The way he was dressed reminded her of the toad boy. Not very put together and very grunge. He didn’t look mean, but he didn’t exactly look friendly. Still holding her hand to her chest, she climbed down the bleachers and picked up her book bag without saying a word, “Kitty’s looking for you,” that got her attention. A new guy that knew the name of a new girl and knew that she was Kitty’s friend.

“How do you know you got the right person?”

“I know these things. It’s my job to know.”

“Well, isn’t that just great. First I have a toad landing me in detention at least once a week and now I have Kurt Cobain wannabe thinking he knows me and my friends. Why can’t you find someone else to bother? I don’t know anything that would be of use to anybody. So just leave me alone.”

The guy shrugged a little before shoving his hands into his pockets, “You aren’t that special. You aren’t the only one,” he started to walk off and Lili thought about stopping him, but instead she walked quickly past him, shoving him a little as she did.

***

Homework finished, Lili laid on her stomach on her bed with a telephone pressed to her ear. The familiar voice of her parents picked up, but it wasn’t really them. It was a recording and then a loud beep, “Hey Mom, Dad, it’s Lili. I, uh, I’m doing good. School’s going really well. I really like it here, but I kinda miss you two. Maybe I could come home for Christmas or you could come visit me, see what it’s like here. I think you’d really like it. So, uh, I guess I’ll call you tomorrow.”

The message was the same almost every day. It was really starting to upset her. Why wouldn’t they answer her calls? Lili told herself that they decided to take a vacation for the first time in her life. They deserved it. She would just keep calling them and hope they eventually came home and answered.

“Hey, Lili, did you get the answer to question ten on that algebra take home test?” Kitty’s voice pulled her mind back and she sat up slowly, “I can’t seem to figure it out. You okay? You look a little down,” the brunette came in and sat on the edge of the bed.

“I’m fine. I got 42 for the answer,” the other girl nodded and jot the answer down, “Kitty, can I ask you something?” the other nodded again, “You got to live a normal life before coming here, right? I mean, no one is really normal, but I mean like you got to do things that most people our age do, right?” Kitty nodded once more, “What does it mean when you touch a guy’s hand like this?” she reached over and very quickly circled her fingertip on Kitty’s hand, “And like, flutter your eyes and ask them if there is anything you can do for them?”

The other girl stopped her homework for a moment before giggling, “It means you want to kiss them or more. You didn’t do that to somebody, did you?”

Lili wasn’t about to admit it, “Of course not. I saw it on tv and I didn’t understand. What do you mean by ‘or more’? What more than kissing?”

Kitty stood up and shook her head, “Oh no. I’m not talking about that. It was weird enough when my mother explained it to me. I’m not getting into that. You might want to talk to Storm or the school nurse or call your mom. What kind of show were you watching that had that in it?”

Lili shrugged, “I didn’t watch it. I was flipping channels and stopped on it for a minute. Not sure what it was. Need anymore help with the math work?”

“Nope. Think I got it,” she smiled and headed off towards her own room.

She was pretty happy that the toad boy knew that she didn’t understand what she was saying. She couldn’t imagine how embarrassing it would have been if he tried to take her up on that ‘offer’ and found out later that she hadn’t a clue what she was doing. What ‘more’ would he have wanted from a girl prettier than her? Kissing seemed like an awful lot to her.

Sighing, she fell back on the bed, holding her now bandaged arm to her stomach. A small groan passed her lips as her wings bent uncomfortably. The Professor said that they would start working with her wings this weekend. Her new harness to keep them strapped down was a lot more comfortable than the one her father had made for her. It didn’t pinch or pull at her feathers. Her wings didn’t feel stiff or sore anymore. Pretty soon, she hoped, she would be able to actually fly with them. Maybe if she started using them, her mutation would start to evolve more like the Professor said it could. Maybe they would get stronger and let her bones get stronger too.

It wasn’t too much to hope for, she felt. Even still, it was a pretty big longshot.


	5. Chapter 5

Watching Logan train was mentally exhausting. The man was a machine. A blood thirsty animal. Other than the fact that he pushed them all pretty hard in training sessions with him, none of them really seemed to know much about him. All she knew was that he was tough, strong, and a little scary at times. She heard him muttering a few times in the kitchen about there not being any beer and how the Professor wouldn't let him smoke inside the mansion. Kurt said that he saw the man sitting on the roof one night with a six pack and a cigar. Lili was sure he did that sort of thing often.

They all stood in the observation room of the Danger Room and watched Logan on the monitors as he crawled his way through the mansion air vents. Storm attacked him when he came out, but he managed to escape and crawl back in and make it all the way to the Danger Room. This training was to test the security of the Institute. Everything from the outer gate to the inner workings. Lili wasn't sure exactly what they were supposed to learn from all of this, but she supposed it was good to know how secure this place was. Already she was amazed by how locked down it was.

The Professor finally called the session off as Logan trashed a few pieces of machinery and headed up to the observation room. Kurt was hanging upside down from the ceiling, stuffing his mouth full of popcorn. Scott and Jean were reviewing some of the training footage. Kitty, meanwhile, was sitting off to the side, hugging herself tightly.

Logan came in and suggested that they electrify the air vents or put in poison gas. Luckily, he was talked down to knock out gas instead. Kitty panicked a bit at this, “Is it just me or is anyone else seriously freaked about this?” everyone just stared at her blankly, “Oh right, it is just me. Great.”

Kurt teleported around the room, close to Kitty, telling her to relax and calm down. That this was all normal. She still hadn't got used to the blue guy yet and excused herself, “She's fully not into the fuzzy dude. Not that I blame her,” to which Jean reassured him that Kitty would come around. If Lili didnt know any better, she would think Kurt had a crush on the new girl.

The Professor came in soon after that to explain that they were going to Mississippi because of a new mutant. It was a girl that the Professor felt was a danger to not only others, but to herself as well. Despite that, as Lili was fairly excited when he said they all would be going.

Since coming here nearly a month ago, she had yet to be allowed out on these missions. The Professor kept claiming that she wasn't ready yet, “All of us, Professor?”

“Of course, Lili. It's a weekend, so no need to worry about being too tired for school in the morning,” she smiled brightly and started off to gear up with the others, “Lili,” she stopped and the other continued on, “You will be coming with, but you will not actually be taking part in the mission. They injury to your arm is not healed enough yet. I don't want you getting hurt anymore than you already are, but I think it's important for you to go with. The experience will be good for you.”

“But, Professor,” she started to argue, “What good will sitting back do for me? I want to get stronger. I can't do that if I'm always sitting on the benches. That's what my parents made me do and now we're not even sure if my wings can ever be used,” it had been sad the first time she unstrapped her wings and they just hung their limply. She'd been unable to use them at all or even make them twitch. The Professor stated that the muscles were atrophied and it would take time to see if they would ever be able to be used.

“Watching can be a good lesson. I know you want to overcome the weaknesses of your mutation, Lili, but it cannot be forced. Evolution is a slow process. We are the product of giant leaps in genetic changes, but even we have our own evolution that takes it's own time. Many of us will not see these changes in ourselves, but instead see them in future generations of our bloodlines. Your body will evolve in it's own time. Trying to force it will only cause undue stress. Do you understand?”

She nodded, “Yes, Professor.”

“Very good. Now, please go get ready. We're leaving in ten minutes,” he wheeled himself out and left her to pout for a moment before heading off to her own room to change.

Her uniform was special made, all of them were. Tight fitting, probably to keep other people from grabbing hold of loose clothing during a fight. Most of it was black, but there was a forest green stripe that came over her shoulders and narrowed down between her legs. The mid-calf high combat boots were the same shade of green. It zipped up the front into a turtle neck so that everything except her face was hidden. Even her hands were hidden under green gloves. The neck of the uniform looped around her own neck to hold everything in place, it had it's own small zipper on the back of the neck. It whole thing clung tightly around her chest (not that there was much to hide or cling to). Her back was exposed, but not much. Just from the base of her wings to just over the top where they connected with her skin and spine.

She wasn't sure why she bothered suiting up if she wasn't going to be participating, but part of her hoped the Professor would change his mind. She doubted that happened often. Maybe she could just stay in her room and no one would notice she didn't come with. She had better things to do anyway. She had to find Ms. Darkholme.

The woman had promised her a 'trial run' of this other advanced student group and she was still trying to figure out if it was the principal sending toad boy after her that first week. Darkholme was supposed to show her this other group almost two weeks ago, but every time she tried to find the woman, the secretary said she was out of town at a convention. How many conventions for teachers or principals could there really be in a year? Maybe she was stealing money from the school and taking vacations. No. The woman had too big of a stick frozen up her backside to do something like that.

Lili supposed she didn't really have a choice in the matter and it wasn't like she could force Darkholme to do what she wanted. At least she would be able to go somewhere other than school for a change.

A few minutes later found her sitting in the back seat of the Blackbird jet. It wasn't her first time in it, but it was her first time in it actually flying. For the most part, they had just learned about the controls. Kurt was the only one, other than Jean and Scott, who had actually flown in it. Scott was in the process of teaching the blue boy to fly it. So he was allowed to do their initial take off with Scott as co-pilot.

As soon as the engines started, she felt her chest get tight. Was she scared of heights? It's not like she ever had a reason to test whether she was or not. How sad would it be if she freaked out about a little flight to Mississippi? She was supposed to be able to fly herself and she was scared of heights? That would be pathetic. Lili told herself that it wasn't the heights. That it was the fact that Kurt had decided to switch to using his feet to drive.

“Scott's kind of cute,” she heard Kitty whispering to Jean. The redhead responded that she didn't think so. That she thought Scott was more strict and things like that. It was true, but Lili knew better. She saw the way the two of them looked at each other and tended to hover now and again. Those two were meant for each other. Finally, Jean admitted to thinking that the sunglasses wearing boy was kind of cute.

“He's frigid,” she added her own comment before going back to her own thoughts. Her little crush on Scott had faded completely. Lili didn't know what her 'type' was, but it certainly wasn't him.

Next thing she knew, Kurt was flying back into Kitty's lap. He crashed there and the girl screamed. Apparently Kurt's little stunt to try and impress her had gone wrong. The Professor snapped at him not to goof around in the jet and Kitty told the blue mutant to stay away from her. She reached over and touch the tailed one's arm, “She'll get over it,” that was all everyone seemed to be telling him. Honestly, she wasn't sure if Kitty ever would get used to having someone like Kurt around.

***

The flight didn't take too long. They landed at a private air strip and all of them piled into a van as they headed towards a hospital. Jean pulled on some nurse scrubs over her uniform and headed inside. Lili just pouted a bit. She could have done that. Though she knew Jean had been picked because of her ability, nothing else. The Professor needed to get inside someone's head and Jean could help him do that.

Soon after that, they were on the trail of this rogue mutant. Kurt, Kitty, and Logan were on one team. Storm, Jean, and Scott on the other. She sat back in the van with the Professor as they searched and he gave them instructions. She tried to pay attention, but there were points when it was more than a little boring. Considering the whole team was here, she really so no reason why they would have any issues. Three highly powerful adult mutants and a small group of young mutants with some pretty amazing abilities. She doubted anything this other girl could do would be a match for all of that.

“Is there anything I can do, Professor?” she finally asked.

“I'm sorry, Harpy, but not at the moment. Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and Shadowcat are on her trail. If we can calm her mind down, I think she'll find the institute to be a wonderful place for her growing powers, just like yours,” she folded her arms and laid out on the back seat. They were all going by their codenames right now. It would keep them safe in case anyone over heard them. She knew Kurt and her had picked out their names, kind of, together, but she was kind of disliking hers now. Not that the idea of it didn't fit, but did she really need more confirmation that she was hideous? And weren't men still attracted to them, even if they ripped the mens faces off? Or was it sirens that lured men? Lili could never keep them straight. Were they allowed to change their names? A conversation she would have to have with the Professor some other day.

“We have a situation,” she got up quickly as he spoke. She got out of the car and helped the Professor out as well.

It turned out that the rogue mutant had touched Kurt, just put her hand on his face, and now he was unconscious. Kitty was holding the blue boy in her lap, crying, and begging him to wake up. Kitty said that it was her fault. That she thought she could take the other mutant down and Kurt had tried to get between them. Kitty said that the other girl shouted something in German before teleporting away like Kurt usually did. Apparently this girl could steal powers, “Maybe I should go after her, Professor. I'm not very strong, but unless she can grow wings, there isn't really anything of mine to steal.”

“I'm sorry, Harpy, but no. That boy in the hospital wasn't a mutant and look what happened to him. We have no way of telling what would happen if she touched you. I'd rather not risk it. No, I'm afraid we have to let her go.”

“But, Professor,” Scott started, but was silenced.

“No. We can't force her to come with us, Cyclops. She has to come of her own free will. I don't know what scared her so badly, but we can only hope that she will come to us one day wanting to join us. For now, we need to head back home and take care of our team.”

Speaking of which, both Storm and Kurt were starting to wake up from their attacks. Kitty nearly rushed the blue boy in a hug, calling him 'fuzzy elf' of all things. It was an incredible change of heart for the phaser mutant. Kurt just smiled before almost passing out again.

Kitty spent the whole trip back home at Kurt's side. It was kind of cute. She'd gone from completely disgusted with the blue mutant to being his loving friend. Apparently it had been one heck of a fight.

Lili was fairly upset that she hadn't a chance to be involved in it. All she did was sit in the car playing with the cast on her arm. What kind of incredible, amazing X-Men was she? She felt like the useless sidekick. Not even a useful sidekick that at least handed the hero weapons. She just sat there like a rock. Not even a rock that could be thrown. She was a huge boulder in the middle of nowhere that served no purpose.

***

School Monday morning wasn't fun for any of them. The others had worked hard to find that other mutant in Mississippi and felt very discouraged by the whole situation. More so when they went to school that morning and found the rogue mutant as the newest student at Bayville High. To say they were shocked was an understatement. The girl with the two-toned hair was being shown around by Ms. Darkholme.

Lili wanted to go after them and talk to the principal, but this hardly seemed the time for it, “How'd she get here?”

Jean shook her head and the others shrugged, “I don't know. Probably the same way Lance did,” Kitty commented, “I don't know who brought him here, but it wasn't the Professor. I think someone else around here is starting their own mutant group.”

“I wonder if the Professor knows...”

“Wolverine mentioned smelling someone called 'Mystique' when we were in Mississippi. He said that no matter what she looked like, he could still smell her,” Scott added in.

Lili shuddered a little, “A mutant that can look like whoever they want? She could be anywhere. For all we know, she could be the mayor or something,” which seemed silly, but it wasn't like she hadn't seen her fair share of strange things since coming here.

“I'm going to call the Professor. The rest of you should get to class,” Scott took charge and gave them their simple orders. None of them had a reason not to comply.

Lili made it to her Social Studies class on time and was surprised to see, for the first time since her first day of classes, the toad boy sitting in his seat. No one ever sat around him, the smell was sometimes unbearable, so instead of her usual seat she sat next to him, “Surprising to see you here for a change.”

He smirked, “Well, education is important. I gotta keep this brain of mine sharp at the crack of a whip.”

“Sharp crack of the whip? That makes no sense,” she shook her head and opened her notebook with her good hand, “Oh, and thanks for this,” she raised her cast up to him.

“You should have let go,” he sneered before reaching over and taking hold of it. When she tried to pull her arm back, he held a little tighter. She wasn't stupid enough to try and yank it free. That would only break it in another place, “Needs somethin' though,” he held her arm in such and awkward position that she couldn't see what he was doing other than that he had a pen, “That's better,” he smiled as he let her arm go and she yanked it back to her chest, “Catch ya latter,” he announced as he hopped from his seat and out the classroom door just before the bell rang.

Lili glanced down at her cast as the teacher started in on his lecture. He'd drawn a little frog. It was kind of cute. Maybe he wasn’t such a bad guy after all. He was cute too. Not extremely so, but maybe a good scrub down in the shower would fix that. She traced the outline of the little frog with her fingernail before she realized he’d written a note too. She squinted to read it, saying it silently to herself as she read it, “Two more coming. -Toad”

What the hell did that mean? Apparently he called himself Toad. It made sense. Every time she met this Toad, she felt more confused. Who the heck else was coming? What were they coming for? She’d tried to just ignore all of this and deal with it on her own, but Lili realized she had to talk to the Professor about it now. The little note felt somehow threatening.

***

“I really think it’s important, Professor. Toad wrote this on my cast. Two more coming. I think that rogue girl from Mississippi is working for someone around here. So is Toad and that other guy. I think Kitty said his name was...”

“Lance. Lance Alvers. I met him briefly when we went to meet Kitty. We would have welcomed him here, but he ran off before we could talk to him. I understand your concern, Lili, but there is nothing to worry about. No one is in any danger. Obviously mutants are like any other human. Some of us just fit in better with certain types of people. That means not all mutants will fit in with each other. If these two boys and the rogue feel more comfortable with their powers with each other, then so be it. The Institute will still be here for them if they chose to come.”

“I understand, Professor. I’m just worried that they might be trying to start a fight or something. Logan mentioned someone called Mystique down in Mississippi. Who is that? Could she be getting these mutants together?” Lili didn’t want to let this go.

The Professor sighed lightly, “Mystique is a mutant, but not one you need to concern yourself with right now,” it was easy for anyone to tell that he was hiding something, but she knew she was in no position to get him to say it, “I would like for you to leave the subject alone for now. If Toad tries to talk to you about it, please just ignore him. He’s likely just trying to get you riled up. It’s, unfortunately, in his personality to do such things. He seeks attention.”

Lili nodded. That did make sense in a way, “I will, Professor. Not like I can do much with this anyway,” she raised up her casted arm, “I think I’ve still got another month of this,” she smiled before starting out of the room, “Good night, Professor.”

“Good night, Lili.”

Flopping onto her bed, she stared at the drawing on her cast. He was the only one who had wanted to do any kind of signing on it. Reaching over to her nightstand, she pulled out a black marker and started scribbling out the warning message. She left the drawing and his signature. It really was cute and she liked frogs.

A knock on her door made her blush, “Come in,” she knew who it was. It was Storm.

“You wanted to see me, Dear?” the white haired weather witch asked softly as she closed the door behind her and sat on the edge of the bed.

“Yeah, I, uh, had some questions. Kitty thought it would be best if I talked to you about it...”


	6. Chapter 6

Things were quiet for a while at the Institute. Everyone fell into their own routines. Jean was busy with soccer. Scott was busy watching Jean’s soccer practices. Kurt and Kitty became fast friends and spent a lot of time running around together. Logan pushed them all super hard in training. Storm was starting to do the same, but at least she wasn’t scary. And the Professor was busy tracking down new mutants.

Lili was getting her cast off in two days. Other than that, things were quiet for her. She didn’t find any of the school sports interesting enough to even go watch the games unless all of them were going. There were few things that actually interested her when it came to after school activities. For the most part, she spent time after school sitting around with a journal.

Writing had never interested her before, but she picked it up for one reason. Her parents. She still couldn’t get a hold of them on the phone and wanted to fill the journal up and then send it to them. She was angry that they wouldn’t talk to her and she was going to make sure they knew just how angry she was. Things like if she knew she was such a burden on them, she would have left sooner or if they were so disgusted with her, then they should have gotten rid of her. It was harsh, but some days she actually wrote apologizes for others. It was good therapy, she guessed. She told herself that she would try to call them again after her cast was off. If they didn’t answer, she was going to tell the Professor and ask to be taken home to see them.

Lili was sitting on a stone bench near the mansion’s outer wall. It was a quiet spot and Logan didn’t usually use it in his training course. As far as she knew, the only people in the mansion right now were the Professor and Storm. Kurt and Kitty went to see a movie, Scott had some school assignment to research at the library, and Jean and Logan were sent off to investigate another mutant.

Per the Professor’s recommendation, Lili had taken to not turning her inducer on when she was home and to not strap her wings up. It made sense that it would be good for the dead appendages. The light breeze felt good through the feathers. She hoped that she would be able to use them to fly one day. The only thing that gave her that hope was the fact that in her last training session with the Professor, she was able to make the right wing move a little. It was a big deal to her and that was what she was writing about today.

“You spend a lotta time out here,” the voice caught her attention and she saw Toad sitting crouched atop the mansion wall. It had been almost a week since she’d seen him at school. Before that, she only caught glimpses of him around the halls. How he managed to skip so many classes and not get expelled was amazing to her. It only confirmed that Ms. Darkholme had something to do with it. If not, then Toad would not be a student there anymore.

“You stalking me?” she went back to her journal and started writing again, “You better not come down here. Storm will fry you.”

Toad shuddered. The weather witch had already zapped him once his first night coming here, “I ain’t stalkin’. Just takin’ a look around. Somethin’ wrong with that?”

“Maybe. Logan doesn’t seem to like you very much,” though she was sure Logan didn’t like anyone very much, “What are you looking around for?”

“You.”

She flicked her eyes up at him for a moment before going back to her writing, “For?”

“You said we could have lunch together. Remember?”

“I remember you laughing at me and saying I wasn’t your type. So no thanks. Why don’t you go find one of the ‘pretty ones’ and ask them? I’m sure Kitty is at the mall. Jean should be back by sunset,” she smiled lightly, “I never did get to thank you for the frog though. So thanks,” she held up her cast so he could see it.

“Come on, I was just kiddin’ about that. Have lunch with me.”

“The answer is still no.”

“What, you think you’re too good for me or somethin’ cause you’re here with the spoiled kids?” he wasn’t joking this time.

Lili sighed and closed her journal before standing up, “It’s not like that. I don’t trust you. All you’ve done is threaten me and get me put in detention. For all I know, you’re just doing what you’re told and trying to get me in trouble again. I have enough to think about without worrying about that. So please go away. If you don't, then I’ll just go inside,” he couldn’t follow her there after all. She got her answer when he didn’t move, “Fine. If you ever decide to come to class, I guess I’ll see you there.”

Turning her back on him, she headed back inside to her bedroom. She looked back before going inside and saw that he was gone from his spot on the wall. She felt a little bad about turning him down like that, but at least she’d been honest and not laughed at him like he’d done to her.

Thinking about it brought her conversation with Storm a few weeks ago back to mind. It had been a flustering and embarrassing talk, to say the least. It was a conversation that, had she not been what she was, her parents should have given her. Storm had assured her that it was completely normal for her to have the questions that she did. Even still, it was embarrassing. Not only that, but it had lasted alot longer than she was expecting. She doubted anyone really liked that sort of discussion. Storm stated that it was better to learn about it beforehand, so as to be prepared.

Lili explained to the older woman about what she’d asked Kitty and they went from there. She spent the days after that feeling jumpy and shy with everyone. No one really questioned it though. Not like it was highly unusual behavior for her.

If she was completely honest with herself, then she knew that ‘talk’ was part of the reason she’d turned Toad down. She didn’t want him to know that she now knew what her original offer to him meant. She wasn’t about to make that offer again and didn’t want him thinking that she would. Or worse, him trying to give her a lesson of his own. Sure, she thought he was kind of cute, but she wasn’t really all that interested in him.

Groaning out of aggravation, Lili buried her head under her pillows. She wished the Professor could wipe the conversation with Storm from her memories and she could go back to being clueless in the ways of teenage dating and sexuality.

***

School was the same as usual. She had a research project for chemistry class this week. It would keep her busy and focused. It was school work like this that kept her from thinking about other things. Mostly about trying to figure out about Ms. Darkholme and Toad.

Apparently, there was another new mutant in school. A very large guy named Fred. It was the mutant Logan and Jean had gone to meet. She wondered what his power was. She heard that he had torn a row of lockers from the wall and nearly crushed Duncan with them. It wasn’t like it would be that great a loss to the human race for the boy to be taken out, but it wasn’t a very good thing. Maybe this new guy had a temper.

She couldn’t imagine an unstable guy with strength like that living at the institute. More so if it was small things that set him off. Lili knew how easy it was to get a broken bone. That guy could probably crush her, Jean, and Kitty. As scary as Logan was, she doubted he would intentionally hurt any of them even if he was angry.

Her first chance to see the large mutant was while she was sitting outside at one of the outdoor lunch tables. He was making his way into the cafeteria. Lili was amazed at just how large he was. She was expecting just some weightlifter type. That definitely wasn’t this guy. He was at least, the very least, two feet taller than herself. She was sure there was muscle in there somewhere, but he reminded her of that creature from the Goosebump book ‘The Blob That Ate Everyone’. She would classify him the way Toad had her. Not one of the pretty ones.

She went back to her chemistry book, but not even ten minutes later there was a lot of screaming. Kids came running out of the cafeteria and she grabbed her bag to run inside quickly to see what was going on. By the time she got there, it was just Jean and the Blob. He had lost it for some reason and was chucking tables and chairs everywhere. Jean was likely the only one that stood a chance against him, but she lost her footing and the large boy nearly crushed her with a table. Lili started to run in, but was pushed back as Jean let off one of her blasts.

By the time she got back up, the redhead had the other calming down. She glanced over at Lili and motioned for her to leave. Apparently Jean had this all under control. Lili was hesitant to leave, but she knew better. Jean was strong and could take care of herself. Plus, there were better people for the redhead to call on for help. It wasn’t like Lili could actually do anything except get in the way and possibly get hurt herself.

With that, she headed back out to finish her own lunch and find somewhere quiet to sit. This landed her sitting under a tree around the backside of the school. She propped herself up on her invisible wings against the wall and set her chemistry book in her lap. She thought about the large mutant again. Would the Professor really want someone like that around? Someone who would fly off the handle and trash everything? It didn’t seem like an intelligent choice, but then again, that’s why they were at the institute. To learn to control themselves, their powers, and live their lives. If he could help Fred with that, then anyone could learn it.

“Thought about my offer yet?” it was Toad again and she sighed, not looking up from her book.

“Nope,” which was a lie, “Even if I did, the answer would still be the same. Could you go away, I’m a little busy...”

He made it hard to ignore him as he crouched down in front of her, “It’d be fun.”

“I doubt that. I don’t like hanging around dumpsters,” she perked an eyebrow at him. She’d learned a little bit about him since coming here. Some people said they saw him eating flies, “Or spending my days pickpocketing.”

Toad shrugged, “I know Ms. Darkholme would be interested to know that we went out...”

That got her full attention, “Really? And why is that?”

“Me and her, we talk a lot. She talks about you sometimes.”

Lili looked back down at her book, “Did one of those talks involve her telling you to get me detention or to ask me out?”

“Maybe, but unless you do, you’ll never find out. Now will you?” he had a good point.

“Or I could just tell the Professor everything and he could find out for me,” though she didn’t think he would do that. The Professor seemed strict about not prying into people’s minds without just cause. Intentions behind a date didn’t seem like a good enough reason, “Or I could just get over it and move on. Or I could just hold you down till you tell me.”

“And I could break your other arm,” he smirked, “What could one date hurt?”

“My reputation,” not that she had much of one, “People find out that I went out with you and they start treating me like pond scum. I’m already low enough on the totem pole, I don’t think it would be wise for me to sink any further.”

“Fair enough, but no one else has to know about it. It could be our little secret,” he winked.

“And Ms. Darkholme too?”

He frowned and shrugged, “If you change your mind, let me know. I don’t plan on takin’ back the offer anytime soon. Not like people like us have many options.”

“I’d say we have about the same as anyone else, but I’ll think about it...”

He didn’t respond this time. He just got up and walked off. For the most part, she’d only seen him hopping around, never just walking. He looked pretty down that she hadn’t said yes to him. Lili refused to feel guilty about it. If Ms. Darkholme was putting him up to all of this, then she wanted no part of it. Sure, she wanted to find out more, but part of her was starting to decide that it wasn’t worth it. If that was the sort of thing the principal was up to doing, then she decided she wanted no part of it anymore. She wasn’t going to feel bad if Toad was putting himself into a bad position. That wasn’t her problem. Right now she had to focus on her school work and her parents.

***

By the time she got back to the institute after staying late at school to use the computer lab for her paper, she was informed that Jean had been attacked. That kid, Fred, had dragged her off like some kind of barbaric monster. He’d tied her up and tried to force her to be his girlfriend. Even Logan wasn’t able to take the guy down. In the end, it was that rogue girl from Mississippi that had saved her.

That confused them all. They’d all assumed that she wanted nothing to do with them, but when it came down to it, she’d stepped up and saved everyone that was there. Apparently, Fred was not just a little temperamental, he was was nearly psychotic. The Professor said the boy was mentally unstable. Likely from a lifetime of torment and bullying. How someone could bully someone that was as big and strong as that was beyond Lili’s comprehension. Still, she supposed nothing was impossible. Not with everything she’d seen so far.

Everyone was doting on Jean for the rest of the night. Especially, Scott. He hovered over her in a protective manner. His idea of protecting was to schedule more training for all of them for situations like that. Lili highly doubted that Jean had been easy to drag off and that sort of thing didn’t happen to mutant women often. After all, Kitty was pretty much impossible to hold onto and Lili wasn’t exactly the kind of target most would pick for something other than a purse snatching. Unfortunately, the Professor and Logan both agreed that everyone needed more training.

Training with Logan was always so much “fun” that left them all dead tired and hating the man. The only one that seemed to remotely enjoy it was Scott, but even he felt they were pushed too hard sometimes. Not often, but sometimes.

They all went to bed dead tired that night. Lili didn’t think that her lungs could handle another lap around the mansion. Luckily, it started to get dark and the Professor suggested that the students needed their rest before school in the morning. Logan didn’t agree, but he didn’t argue against it. Just muttering something about letting them go soft and then going off on his own. Likely for a beer and cigar.

She crawled into bed, not even bothering to remove her uniform, and moaned at the feeling of the soft mattress and blankets. A smile crossed her lips as she let her mind wander a little. Life wasn’t so bad here. Sure, it wasn’t great, but it was better than at her parents. They were good parents to her and they had done the best they could. While upset that they weren’t returning her calls, she tried not to get upset about that right this moment. There were better things for her to think about. Toad came to mind. She smiled and hugged her pillow as she thought about him.

_They were sitting together under the bleachers at school. She was trying to show him something for their social studies class because he was always skipped class. She kept reminding him that school was important, but he just laughed and told her that school was useless for people like them. That they ended up having to make it on their own without the help of society. That they had to make it on their own._

_“Well, I plan on having a good job one day. I’ll need my grades to prove that I can do it,” she defended her stance on the matter._

_“We got better things to do than to read about dead people. Like this,” he leaned over and kissed her neck softly. She tried to ignore it and focus on her school work. Just because he wasn’t going to worry about his education didn’t mean she had to ignore it too, “Come on. Just for a little bit...” he kissed at her neck again and pulled the book out of her lap, “No one has to know. It’s our secret.”_

_“Toad...” she blushed as he pulled both her hands into his own and started stroking up her arms. Lili tilted her head towards him and let him at her lips finally. She moved her arms up and around his neck as their kissed. It felt nice. He smelled like pond water. Kind of stagnant, but earthy and like the outdoors. It wasn’t as bad as people made it out to be._

_Lili felt something slimy touch her lips. It was almost like a really thick worm, covered in some kind of goo. It was his tongue. She’d seen him use it at school for various things. It slid it’s way into her mouth and curled around her own tongue. It tasted very strange. Sour and kind of tangy like a lime as it wiggled its way towards the back of her throat._

_As they kissed, his hands moved to her hips. Rubbing at them softly as his fingertips slipped under the hem of her shirt and she felt them brush against her protruding hip bones. She moaned as he shifted to pull her into his lap and wrapped her legs around his waist. His fingers slid up the back of her shirt and stroked up her spine. She shivered as he touched around the base of her wings._

_His hands moved around her torso, dragging along her ribs as they made their way to the front of her body. She felt his knuckles brush the underside of her nearly non-existent..._

Lili shot up from her pillows breathing heavy. She stared at herself in the mirror on her dresser across from her bed. She was sweaty and the uniform she’d fallen asleep in felt hot and tight. Her cheeks were warm and red.

Taking a deep breath, she got up and her legs shook a little. Shaking her head, she righted herself on her feet and stripped the uniform off quickly. It was nearly time for school and she’d slept in long enough.

Grabbing her book bag, she rushed out the door and nearly tackled Kitty down. Instead, she other girl gasped and Lili ran right through her. They both shuddered. It always felt strange when things like that happened with Kitty, “Sorry. I slept in,” she gave a slightly nervous laugh.

“Yeah, me too. I was having this totally amazing dream. You?”

“No. No dream. Don’t remember having one. Just dead tired from that training, Yeah,” she brushed her fingers through her hair and chewed on her lower lip, “Can’t remember a thing. You’d think Logan pumped that knock out gas into the building by mistake,” Lili tried to joke.

“He’s such a beast. He’s going to kill us with that training before the things we’re training for get us,” the two of them laughed as they climbed into Scott’s waiting car.

***

It was nice outside today. She spent her study period sitting outside at the tables. She let her hidden wings slip between the tabletop and the bench seat as she sat backwards. She leaned back and let her head rest on the table. The sun felt good. At least it did till the table shook. She cracked her eyes open as a shadow blocked the sun.

Toad.

Groaning in annoyance, she reluctantly sat up slowly, “Why won’t you leave me alone?”

“You’re the one that started it when you dragged me out of the bleachers to talk. What can I say, I’m enamored,” he slipped off the table and onto the seat next to her, “Change your mind yet?”

“Enamored. Yeah, I’ll believe that when hell freezes over. Remember, I’m not your type and I’m certain you’re not mine,” it was surprisingly easy to say that. The dream was just a random fluke. No one could control their dreams after all, “So the answer is still no.”

“We could be each others type if we give it a shot.”

“I’m pretty sure it doesn’t work like that,” her stomach felt fluttery, “But...I guess one date couldn’t hurt, but I’ve already ate lunch. How about dinner? Make it a real date.”

Toad nodded, “I’m not exactly the restaurant type. How about a picnic?” she agreed to it, “Not tonight though. I got some things to do. Geology club is going on a trip next week. You supposed to go?” she nodded, “Why don’t you skip it? Everyone will think you’re there and we can spend some time together.”

“I’m not skipping school activities and getting in trouble.”

“Come on. It’s just for a little bit. No one has to know. It’ll be our secret,” Lili went wide eyed as he said that. It brought back her dream and she blushed, “Somethin’ wrong with that?”

She shook her head, “No. Uh, that’d be great. Next week then. One condition though. If I’m risking Ms. Darkholme catching me and giving me another detention, then you have to do something for me.”

“What?”

“Take a shower before we meet up,” she smiled and climbed up from the table, “Or brush your teeth. At least one of them,” she left him looking bewildered at the table as she headed off to her next class.


	7. Chapter 7

The Geology Club met early Saturday morning to head off for their expedition. They were going to some caves a little further north. Lili had been excited for it. Mostly because it was her first chance to be away from the institute while still doing something useful. It was supposed to be Scott, Jean, and herself. They drove up together and during all of the chatter and moving around, Lili slipped off around the bus and headed towards the school building. She heard someone getting upset by the bus about not being able to go. It sounded a lot like Jean, but Lili wasn’t going back to check it out. She had plans for today. She didn’t bother trying to tell anyone about it. They wouldn’t understand her justifications, not that she expected them to.

She had several hours to kill, so she stuffed her bag into her locker and headed to the library. She wouldn’t mind going back home, but then she’d have to deal with questions. Lili didn’t really want to tell anyone that she was having a late picnic with Toad. She was sure they wouldn’t believe her.

Despite the fact that she knew she would get in trouble for skipping the trip, she felt kind of excited. At least she did till someone came up behind her, “What ya doing?” Lili nearly jumped out of her skin, “Creeping around school on the weekend. Very shady if you ask me.”

“I’m sure no one was asking you, Pietro. Please go away,” she only met the white haired boy once before. He was cute, but everything else about him was almost headache inducing. He talked fast, moved fast, thought fast, and complained about everything. He said that the most annoying thing in the world was being stuck at the ATM with the person in front of you forgetting their pin number and then unable to decide how much money to take out when you’re in a hurry. He said that his whole life was like that. Just one long line at the ATM machine and he was stuck at the back of it. Logan called the boy a ‘quickster’ and a ‘speed demon’. It sounded like some kind of drug.

“I don’t need to be asked. I just tell it like it is. Waste of time to wait for people to ask the questions I’m already going to answer,” he rushed around her in a quick blur and grabbed her book bag from her locker before she could shut it, “What’s in here?”

Lili lunged for the bag, but he was too fast and before she could blink he was behind her. She tried to turn to grab him, but he ended up behind her again, “Give that back!” but every time she tried to grab for it, he would end up just outside of her reach before she could even get her arm halfway raised up. He was just too fast.

“Oh, what do we have here,” he dug through her bag as she face turned pink and she lunged for him again, “Oh green lipstick. That’s a fashion statement if I ever saw one. Someone like the color green? There’s an awful lot of it in here. Even the ugliest shade of green nail polish I’ve ever seen. Where’d you buy that, the ten cent bin at the dollar store?” he laughed as her face went from pink to red.

“Give it back!”

“You know, you could be pretty. Gain a little weight, fix your hair, wear some nice clothes and makeup. Though not this stuff,” he laughed again and pulled out a dress from the bag, “Ohlala, that’s kind of nice, isn’t it? Who gets to see you in this?” he held up the long sleeve dress. Sage green in color. It was embroidered with pretty little designs. The back had been altered so her wings would fit through it, “If you had more of a chest, this might actually fit you. Is that what the kleenex is for?”

Finally, Lili managed to grab her bag and yank it away along with the dress. She knew the only reason she got it was because he let her, “It’s none of your business. Go bother someone else.”

“Got a hot date?” he teased as she started to walk off. He ran up and cut her off, “With a toad?” he smiled as she frowned, “Not that I think you can do better than that, but seriously? I live with the guy, he’s a pig,” Pietro smirked, “I’d rather live alone for the rest of my life than settle for that.”

Lili shook her head and walked past him, “Go away, Pietro,” she felt upset now. Toad he told her that it was their secret, but somehow Pietro knew about it. They called themselves the Brotherhood. Mutants that felt like they didn’t fit in with the X-Men. Ones that felt they were better than humans. They didn’t want to be equal with the humans like Xavier taught them. They wanted to ‘rule’ over humans. At least that’s how Pietro came off, “I’m sure my social life is no concern of yours. It’s not like it affects you in any way shape or form.”

“Yeah, but I get bored. I need to keep myself entertained,” he ran a few circles around her, “Is he blackmailing you? Or maybe you find pond scum sexy?”

“Pietro, if you don’t go away, I’m going to call Wolverine. You remember him?” the boy stopped for a second before walking again, “I mean it. I’ll get him, Storm, and the Professor. Cause all you have to do is run by me too fast and I could fall and break my knee when I land on it. So go away,” and he did. Took off as fast as he could, leaving Lili to put her hand on the wall to brace herself from the wind caused by his movement.

Watching him go, she was still upset. Why had Toad told that jerk? Why did that jerk have to go through her bag? It was no ones business what she did. Even if Toad did tell the speedy mutant, what was Pietro’s problem? Why did he give a damn who anyone dated? Probably because, as he said, he got bored. He needed someone to pick on and they were easy targets, “Jerk...” she muttered as she headed towards the library to study for a while.

***

The day passed quietly. She spent most of it in the library and told anyone that came through that she was working on a project. It was simple enough. At one point, she took a small nap at the table before actually working on school work. It was kind of nice not having to answer to anybody for a while. No training, no schedule, and no expectations. She guessed this was the reason so many kids like going out. It was time away from real responsibilities. Then again, that could just go for mutants. They had far more responsibilities than the average teen.

Around four in the afternoon, she headed into the girl’s bathroom and changed her clothes. She doubted that Toad was going to dress any differently, but she wanted to. She smoothed the dress out and frowned as she looked in the mirror. Pietro was right. She needed a chest. Lili didn’t even need to wear a bra. They were practically non-existent. She grabbed a handful of the paper towels next to the sink and stuffed them down into her dress. That looked better, but she wrinkled her nose and pulled the towels back out to throw away. It just wasn’t her.

Lili smoothed out the dress again and then her hair before heading out. They hadn’t agreed on a place to meet, but he seemed to always find her anyway. She figured he would assume she would be here at the school.

It was a good assumption as she headed out the doors and saw him standing against a tree. There was a small picnic basket near his feet. She smirked as she wondered where he got it. She found it almost unbelievable that someone like him would actually own a picnic basket. Maybe it belonged to his mother. More plausible was that he stole it. It was a nice day out, so there were bound to be other people in nice grassy areas. She had a feeling that one of those couples was going to be wondering where their food went. Lili knew the fact that he was a thief should bother her, but it didn’t.

“Didn’t think you’d show up,” he said lightly as she got closer.

“To be honest, I thought about it,” which was true. She’d thought about it a lot over the past week.

He smiled and leaned down to pick the basket up, “Where do you want to go?” he looked around a little.

“Don’t know. I don’t know the area very well. I’ve only been to school and back to the institute. Anywhere so long as there aren’t a lot of people. I don’t like the noise of crowds,” this felt awkward. She had a feeling that this was his first time on a ‘date’ with a girl. It was a first for her too, “Why don’t we head to the forest near the institute?” it would still be far enough away that no one would catch them. Lili didn’t want anyone to see them together. She was sure he felt the same way.

It was hard to say why either of them were actually going through with this. She wasn’t even sure why she was doing it. Part of her was sure he was doing this because Ms. Darkholme told him to. She knew she had to just let all of that go, but it was bothering her and she wanted to know the truth. Lili kind of hoped that Toad would feel bad about it after they spent some time together and tell her. He didn’t seem the type to feel bad about certain things though.

He agreed to the forest area and they started off for it, “I showered,” he said with a bit of disdain in his voice, “And brushed my teeth,” she was pleasantly surprised to hear that he’d done both of those things when she’d asked that he do at least one of them.

“I noticed the shower,” she smiled, “It’s hard to notice the teeth though,” most would think it gross, and it likely was, but unless someone was kissing him or sitting very closely, just brushing his teeth was hard to tell. His teeth were discolored permanently. It would take the act of a godly dentist to fix them at this point, “Thank you.”

“Yeah, well, don’t expect me to make a habit of it. I got allergies. I can’t be doin’ that all the time.”

“Allergic to what? Soap?” she questioned and raised an eyebrow.

“Problem with that?” this was apparently a touchy subject.

“Nope. Just curious,” best to drop the subject, “Do you like my dress?” she held the sides of it up a little bit and watched him just shrug as a response, “You know, you’re the one that asked me out. You pestered me about it. I’m pretty sure you stalked me a little bit. So why are you being so impassive about this? If anyone should be, it should be me,” Toad just shrugged again, which made her upset, “If you don’t want to be here, then go home. This is my first date and I don’t need you making it a bad one because you suddenly changed your mind and are pretending to be too nice to say anything. I’ve seen you around school. I’ve heard people talk about you. The way you’re acting now is not how you usually are. So just go home,” she stopped walking and folded her arms across her chest, “Ms. Darkholme or one of your little Brotherhood buddies probably told you to ask me anyway. Probably just some big joke to you all.”

Toad stopped too and crouched down to his usual position before looking up at her, “It’s not like that, okay?” he fiddled a bit with the grass before continuing, “I’m just not sure what to say. I’ve never been out with a girl before, ya know? We’re a lot alike, so I figured if even a girl like you wouldn’t go out with me, then I really don’t have a chance with anyone,” he didn’t seem to pull punches when it came to talking about things. Lili wasn’t exactly happy to hear things like that, but she understood, “What did you want me to say? That it looked nice, but it would be better on someone else or at least if you had breasts? Cause that’s the truth.”

“Then say that and it’s not like I’m an expert at this stuff either. I’d rather hear the truth rather than nothing at all...” she sat on the ground next to him and pulled her knees up to her chest, “I had good parents. They took care of me. They didn’t want anyone to hurt me. They taught me to by happy with myself and I am. I know what I look like and I’m not ashamed of it. But while they were telling me that I was a perfectly normal kid, they wouldn’t let me leave the house. I wasn’t even allowed to look out the front windows because someone might have seen me,” she plucked some of the grass by her feet as she talked, “I wasn’t allowed to do anything, cause I might fall and break something. They didn’t want to risk taking me to a doctor. If I got sick, it was all home remedies and whatever they could buy at the drugstore.”

“My mom quit her job so she could stay home with me all the time because they didn’t trust that I wouldn’t leave the house. Until I came here, I’d never talked to anyone other than my parents. Other than Ms. Darkholme, you’re really the first person I talked to outside of the institute. Granted, I was screaming at you for tackling me,” she smiled over at him.

“Least your parents did somethin’ for you. Mine dumped me off on the child services doorstep when I was six. I ran away when I was eight. Been livin’ here ever since. I used to break into this apartment building and sleep in the basement,” Toad finally sat fully on the ground and stretched his legs out.

“But now you live with the Brotherhood?” he nodded in response, “Why? Pietro makes fun of you. So does Lance. Why would you want to be around people like that? I know I’m not very nice to look at, but at least the others at the institute are nice to me,” as far as she knew, none of them talked about her behind her back.

“I make fun of them,” he shrugged his shoulders, “That’s what guys do. We have stuff in common. We want the same things.”

“What’s that?”

Toad shook his head, “Can’t talk about it.”

“Why not?”

“Cause you’re the enemy.”

That took her slightly by surprise to hear. They’d all fought with the Brotherhood a little bit, but she never thought of them as enemies. Just annoyances, “Then why would you ask out an enemy?”

“Cause you’re ugly and I’m hideous. Like I said before, we’re alike. Sleepin’ with the enemy is better than sleepin’ with no one.”

Lili blushed a little, “We’re not doing any sleeping like that.”

“Not yet,” he said with a grin.

“Not ever. I’d rather die a virgin.”

Toad frowned, “That’s not very nice to say.”

“I thought we were going to be honest with each other? You call me ugly and flat chested, so I admit that I’m about as attracted to you as I am to the thought of kissing a honeybadger. Plus, I don’t think I could do something like that with someone I don’t trust,” she saw the questioning look on his face, “Why should I trust you? You get me in trouble, you broke my arm, you tried to hurt one of my friends the first time I saw you, and I’m pretty sure you’re not being honest with me about why you asked me out.”

“Fair enough,” she had expected him to try to defend against her statements, but he didn’t, “Maybe I can change your mind. How about with a few more dates? Next weekend? Or maybe tomorrow night? You could sneak out and meet me here,” he smirked.

Lili reached over and pushed him hard enough to make him fall over on his back, “Not a chance, Frog Boy,” she giggled.

“Come on,” he started to make his case now, “You can’t write me off after only an hour. I made ya laugh,” which was true, “It’s not like I’m really expectin’ for you to crawl into bed with me. I was just makin’ a joke. It’s not like we’re gonna run around tellin’ people about it. We can just keep it to ourselves. I showered for you, didn’t I? And brushed my teeth. That’s gotta count for somethin’.”

She thought about it for a moment, “Jean has a soccer game Tuesday night. The Professor wants us all to go for support. I don’t really like soccer or watching sports. I could sneak off then.”

“We could meet under the bleachers.”

Lili blushed as she thought about the dreams she’d been having about the two of them kissing under the gym bleachers. It made her shake her head a bit, “How about we just meet here?”

“You have weird reactions to things, but okay. That works, I guess.”

“You have to shower again,” his nose wrinkled, “But you don’t have to use soap. Just scrub.”

It seemed like he thought that was a fair enough trade, but apparently it wasn’t, “If I gotta do that, then you gotta do somethin’ for me.”

“I’m not stuffing my bra,” she said with a small chuckle.

“Okay, that’s out,” she couldn’t tell if that really was what he was going to say or not. He seemed a bit more relaxed and like himself now that they were talking more, “You gotta go out with me at least three more times. No matter what. I get to pick the days and time. How about that?”

It wasn’t completely unreasonable, but it felt forced. What if she decided after today or their next meeting that she didn’t want to see him anymore? He couldn’t force her. Could he? Lili decided he couldn’t, “Fine, but no skipping school. You might not care about your grades, but I do. And if I can justify it, the deal is off.”

“You better have a damn good justification for that.”

“I will.”

***

The rest of the date had gone well after that. Lili had refused to eat the food he brought when he admitted he’d stolen the basket. She even made him go back to where he got it and secretly put it back. He’d not liked that, but she stated that theft was a good reason to call off any future dates and he begrudgingly put it back.

They’d spent most of the time talking. Mostly about her. He seemed very curious about her mutation. She even showed him her wings for a quick moment. He asked her about her metabolism and her bones. Yet when she asked about his mutation, he tended to give the shortest and most vague answers he could. Though he did state that his allergy to soap was due to his mutation. At least that gave a reason for the odor he tended to have. Not the best of reasons, but at least it was one. Nor could she get any more information from him about Ms. Darkholme or the Brotherhood.

By the time Lili got home, it was getting dark and she slipped into her room without much of an issue. She thought it was a little strange that no one else seemed to be around. As far as she knew, Jean and Scott were the only ones that went on the school trip. They should be back by now. Usually, everyone was getting ready for dinner about now.

She got her answer when the Professor called them all down to the study where she’d first met them all. The look she got when she went in from the Professor told her that he knew she hadn’t gone on the trip. He didn’t seem overly upset about it. More agitated.

The little meeting seemed to be more about the new person standing in the room. It was the mutant girl from Mississippi. She seemed pretty roughed up at the moment. So did Scott. Jean looked fine though. Lili wondered what had gone on at that trip. While none of them had any direct fights with the mutant girl, she hadn’t really been all that friendly with any of them. She’d helped Jean out with that Blob guy, but for the most part she seemed disinterested in joining them.

“Everyone, I believe you know Rogue,” the Professor started, “She’s going to be joining the institute with us,” he smiled and she gave a shy smile.

“Welcome to the group,” Kitty announced, “I’m sure you’ll love it here.”

“I’m sorry for the trouble I’ve caused. Mystique got into my head. I didn’t realize what kind of person she was,” the girl lowered her head a bit, “I should have known she was dangerous when I found out that she was pretending to be the principal. Good people don’t usually do stuff like that,” Lili perked a little hearing that. So Ms. Darkholme was this Mystique woman. That confirmed in her mind that Toad was working for the woman. Lili wondered if something like this a good enough reason to call off their dates. Probably not.

“It’s been a long day, I think it would be best if we all headed onto bed for the night,” the Professor explained, “Lili, can I talk to you for a moment?”

Her chest tightened and she nodded, “Yes, Professor?”

“I’m not angry with you. I just want you to tell me the truth. Where were you today? Scott was in danger and you could have helped him. You abandoned your team. I don’t need any details. I just want you to tell me where you were and why you skipped the trip,” she knew he could find out on his own, but he was choosing not to.

Lili thought carefully about her answer. He’d know if she was lying, “I was...in the forest with someone. We were having a picnic,” though they hadn’t actually ate anything, “I won’t skip out on school things again. I promise.”

He was silent longer than she felt was comfortable, “See that it doesn’t, Lili. I know you’re still adjusting to life outside of your home, but I don’t want people talking you into doing things you know are wrong to do. Like skipping classes or school functions. These are important, a picnic can be rescheduled.”

Lili nodded and headed off to her room. Crawling into the bed, she knew she should be feeling bad, but she wasn’t. Sure, there was a pang of guilt thinking that Scott had gotten hurt, but she knew that there really wasn’t much she could have done if she had been there. Instead, she tried to think about Toad. About the things they talked about and how he had probably asked her out because Darkholme told him to.

Sighing, she rolled onto her side and hugged her pillow. She thought about what it would be like if they did eventually sleep together. No. She couldn’t think about that. It was bad enough that she had thoughts about them kissing. She wasn’t about to let herself start having thoughts beyond the kissing. It was bad enough that every time she saw his tongue flick out she thought about it wiggling it’s way around her mouth.

“I’m gonna kill him...” she muttered into her pillow before reaching over to turn off the nightstand lamp.


	8. Chapter 8

Lili smiled as she saw him hopping towards their usual meeting spot. The deal had only been for three dates, but they met up at least that many times a week. He always picked the time and they always met in the same place. It was far enough from the school and institute that no one would see them, but close enough that she could get back to school in time for class or back to the institute before anyone missed her.

The dates were all the same. They met up, talked, and then made plans on when to meet again. It was rarely anything serious. They both just liked to talk.

Even though she smiled as she saw him, she was actually pretty upset today, “Hey, Babe.”

“I’ve told you not to call me that,” she folded her arms across her chest as he took a seat on the ground next to her, “I can’t believe you actually showed up after what you jerks did yesterday.”

“What? That thing at the construction site? Come on, we’ve done worse than that before. Blue boy had it comin’,” he shrugged.

“Had it coming? It was Mystique who told him to go there. You guys had no right to interfere with it. She’s Kurt’s mother and he wanted to see her. He had a right to know why she abandoned him. It’s not like if my parents got rid of me or what your parents did. She’s a mutant too. So why did she get rid of him...” Lili shook her head a little. She knew Toad didn’t know the answer to that, “But instead of letting him get his answers, you jerks busted in.”

“Don’t get upset about it. We were just followin’ orders. It’s over with. The fuzz ball will get his answers a different day. No big deal.”

She didn’t like how easily he was brushing this off. Kurt was her friend. Rogue had been having strange nightmares for days before they realized it was Mystique’s memories that she accidentally took. A dream about a woman running and throwing her baby off a bridge. The woman turned out to be Mystique and she was Kurt’s mother. Kurt had snuck out on his own last night to meet her, but the Brotherhood boys stepped in against Mystique’s wishes. They’d nearly killed Kurt. Probably would have if they hadn’t shown up to help him fight.

It was weird how they all interacted. They snapped and glared at school. Outside of school they fought like cats and dogs. Yet it wasn’t that strange to actually see any of them actually have a civil conversation. More than once the Brotherhood had fought hard enough that they were sure it was a fight to kill for them. Even Toad had taken his shots at Lili during these fights. more than once, she had to get special cleaner to pry the quick hardening mucus that he could spit off her face. At least he seemed kind enough not to try to body slam her or anything.

Yet, despite that, they still met up several times a week like this, “Well, I am upset.”

Toad scooted closer to her and put an arm around her shoulders, “It wasn’t my idea, okay? I have to do what I’m told, just like you. Big things are happenin’. We have to be prepared for the worst. Let it go. Let me cheer you up.”

“How are you going to do that?”

“We could fool around. I know that would cheer me up if I was upset,” he smiled.

Lili tried to hide the fact that it made her smile too, “Why do you keep pushing for things like that? I know you don’t like me that much.”

“Cause one of these days, you’re gonna let me...and I like you well enough,” cause that was romantic, “You’re a girl. If not you, then who? Remember, sleepin’ with the enemy is better than sleepin’ alone.”

“I wish you’d stop saying that. I don’t think of you as my enemy.”

“Then why can’t we fool around a little bit? It doesn’t have to be much. Just kissin’. I won’t push it. I promise,” his fingers stroked her shoulder a little, “I brushed my teeth,” he was good about doing that and showering before they met up. Not every time, but often enough.

Lili knew he hated doing it. He tried really hard to make it better for her to be near him. So even though she knew he wasn’t attracted to her, he was doing the best he could. She supposed that deserved something, “I guess we could. I’ve never kissed anyone before. So if I don’t like it, we stop. Okay?”

“You think I’m gonna force you to kiss me?” he perked an eyebrow at her.

“Of course not. I just want you to keep your promise that you won’t push it. Have you ever kissed anyone?”

Toad nodded, “Once, but she kicked me. It was in the children’s home. Some of the other kids held me down and they forced her to kiss me. She didn’t get upset at them though.”

It was sad to hear. He’d been abandoned by his parents and she was sure things like that were the reason he ran away. Due to his mutation, she had a feeling that the people who ran the home didn’t try very hard to find him, “That’s awful...” she bit her lower lip for a moment before reaching up and putting her hand over his on her shoulder, “But you’re with the Brotherhood now and you’re strong,” not nearly as strong as the others, but she had a feeling he held back sometimes.

Leaning over, she pressed her lips against his. He seemed a little surprised, but didn’t pull away. His fingers gripped onto her shoulder a little tighter and she felt his other hand come over to rest on her hip. They kissed lightly and it reminded her of the dreams she had sometimes. The only difference was that this wasn’t nearly as intense as her dreams got sometimes. This was just simple and nice. He didn’t try to put his tongue in her mouth or push his hands under her shirt. They just moved their lips against each others a little bit.

Her dreams had been getting more intimate. They always started out with just kissing, but they got more and more heavy as it went on. She even let him put his hands up her skirt or pull her pants down in her dreams. Lili was sure if he tried that right now, she’d punch him in the throat.

Finally, she broke the lip lock and stared down at her lap with a blush. She could tell he had brushed his teeth, but there was still a strange taste left over from his lips, “That was, uh, it was nice,” and she meant it.

“Think we can do that more often?”

She nodded, “Yeah.”

“Maybe we can go somewhere else next time? I got my own room at the Brotherhood house. No one would bother us...”

Lili took a deep breath as she thought about it. It wasn’t the thought of being alone with him and kissing that worried her. It was being in the Brotherhood house and in his bedroom, “I kind of like it here. It’s quiet and I’ve never seen anyone walking by close enough to see us or bother us.”

“What about our deal?”

“It’s been more than three dates and you said only the days and times. Not location. I don’t think I’d be very comfortable in your bedroom,” she tried to always be honest with him.

“You think I’m gonna make you do somethin’ you don’t want to?” he gave her an accusing look, “Or are you worried you’ll do somethin’ you think you don’t want to?”

Lili didn’t want to answer. Toad was a creep, but he wasn’t that kind of pervert. She knew he couldn't force himself on her. He just wanted a girl to be with him willingly. She was worried about his second question. If they were alone, not outside like they were now, and started kissing; would she want him to do other things? She thought about her conversation with Storm and grimaced a little bit. Lili still had it in her mind that sex was not something she ever wanted to partake in, but her dreams told her there were plenty of things other than sex they could do. She wasn’t sure she was ready to make those dreams reality just yet, “I just don’t feel like I’d be comfortable being alone in a bedroom with you. With anybody. Especially if we’re going to be kissing and stuff.”

He was upset. She knew that because he pulled both his hands off of her and moved into his usual crouched position. Like he was ready to hop off, “Whatever...”

“Don’t be like that. I mean it. I’m just not ready. You understand, right?”

He shrugged, “Yeah, I guess. Sorry for pushin’. I really am. I’m just...lonely. Ya know?” she nodded. She did feel that way sometimes too, “Don’t worry about it. I’ll get over it. Wanna meet here tomorrow?”

“I can’t. I have finals to study for. How about this weekend?”

“Sure,” he leaned over and kissed her lips quickly before hopping off, “Same place, same time.”

Lili smiled as she watched him hop off. It was kind of cute the way he did that.

***

Toad skipped school most of the week and when she did see him, he would just wander off before she could say anything to him. It wasn’t upsetting. This was actually how it normally was. They just avoided each other so no one would talk about them or ask any questions about it.

Lili was looking forward to going home on Friday. Finals were over and she could relax. She was expecting to spend the weekend training and then spending a little time with Toad.

What she wasn’t expecting was to be met by the Professor when she got there. As far as she knew, she’d been on good behavior since their last talk when she ditched the school trip. No detentions, good test grades, and she even made sure that her meetings with Toad didn’t interfere with anything. So when he asked her to head to the study, she was worried.

“Am I in trouble, Professor?”

“Of course not, Lili. It’s just that a situation has come up and I think it needs to be discussed,” that didn’t sound good, even if she wasn’t in trouble.

Lili was shocked as she walked in behind the Professor and saw her father sitting in one of the chairs, “Dad?” she didn’t quite believe it was him at first, “What are you doing here?” she’d called them daily for almost three weeks, but since starting her little dates with Toad, she forgot about it. Maybe they finally got all of her messages and decided to do the right thing and get in touch with her. A phone call would have been enough. Seeing him made her a bit angry, “Why haven’t you answered my calls or wrote back to my letters?!”

He stood and took a step towards her, to which she stepped back, “Sweetie, I know you’re upset. Things have been hard at home. That’s why I’m here. I want you to come back home.”

“Mr. Kline, I must express my opinion on this. Lili has been adapting very well to school or social life. If she did go home, I would hope that you would keep her enrolled and allow her to have a life outside of her home. I can’t force you to let her stay here and it is your right as her parent to take her home. I really hope you’ve considered how this will affect her.”

“Trust me, Professor Xavier. She will continue to grow. I promise,” and it sounded believable, “Lili, your mother is sick. She wants you to come home. She got sick not long after you left. That’s why we haven’t called. We had to take her to a special hospital, but she’s home now. She misses you. I miss you. I should have called you sooner, but I didn’t want you to worry about her. We really want you home.”

Lili looked down at her feet as she thought, “...I really like it here, Dad. I’ve made a lot of friends,” and she was somewhat sure that she and Toad could be considered in a relationship of sorts at this point, “Mom is really sick?” she didn’t want to not believe him, but her mind kept telling her to question it.

“Sweetie, just come home for a week or two, at least. She wants to see you and she can’t travel right now. If you come home and don’t want to stay, then we’ll send you back here. But at least come see her. If you come back here, when your mother is better, I’ll bring her up. We can meet all your friends,” he smiled and she did too.

“I’ll speak with Ms. Darkholme to get you put on a temporary leave from school,” it was now known to them at the institute who Darkholme really was, but she still had to uphold school policies for the time being, “If you decide to come back, please let me know. I’ll arrange for you to be picked up.”

“Thank you, Professor. Guess I should go pack up my stuff then,” she avoided when her father tried to give her a hug, “I’ll be back down in a few minutes. I just want to get my stuff and say bye to everyone,” Lili told herself that she would be coming back. She couldn’t really see herself leaving for good. She’d become rather attached to this place. It was nice being around other mutants.

Goodbyes said, she headed out of the mansion behind her father. All the others watched her go and she felt kind of like she was abandoning them. They’d all been understanding, but it still made her feel a little bit of guilt as her father loaded her bags into the car. It wasn’t the car she remembered her dad driving growing up, but she figured it was a rental.

Climbing in, she tried to keep from crying. She felt horrible for some reason. Even though she told herself that she was going to come back, some part of her was sure she wouldn’t be. If her mother was really that sick, then Lili knew there was no way she’d leave home again. She’d stay there and take care of her mother just like her mother had for her growing up. Lili told herself that things would be different this time. She had the image inducer now. She could leave the house and do things now.

The drive didn’t bother her, but it wasn’t till they got a fair distance away that she realized something was wrong. She’d assumed they would be going to the train station. She doubted her father had wasted the time to drive all the way here. A plane or train would be much quicker. Even with the inducer, she’d never be able to take a plane. Too much security and too many questions. Yet that seemed to be the way they were heading. Towards the airport.

“Dad, shouldn’t we take the train?”

“We’re taking the plane,” he gripped the steering wheel and stared intently out the window.

“But...”

“Don’t worry about it, Lili. It’s a private plane,” she understood that, but the issue was the money. She knew her parents didn’t have a lot of money. Especially if her dad had been off work taking care of her mother.

“But, Dad...”

“I said not to worry about it, Lili. Just keep quiet.”

Logan, more than anyone else, had taught them all to be aware of their surroundings and to trust their guts. He told them that if it seemed out of place or off base, then it probably was, “Dad, I think I want to go back to the institute. The Professor can arrange for us to go home.”

“Didn’t I tell you to keep quiet?” she started to panic. Her father had never talked to her like that before. He even reached over and pressed the door lock, “I’m your father. You do what I tell you to.”

“Mom’s not sick, is she?”

“No. She’s not. I’m surprised that freak didn’t pick up on that. I’ve heard what he can do...”

Lili bit her lower lip as she thought about what to do quickly, “Are we going home?”

“No. We’re going to see someone that can help you.”

“The Professor was helping me, Dad.”

He snorted and sneered, “That man is a freak. Just like all the other kids there. I told your mother years ago that we needed to have those things taken off of you,” she knew that things would have been easier for them if she had not been born like this, but she never thought that her dad would feel this way about it, “His name is Magnus. He says he can make you better.”

“I’m not sick, Dad. It’s a mutation, but not a bad one. It’s evolution. There’s nothing wrong with me. Does Mom know you’re doing this?” for a moment, she thought about unlocking the door and jumping out, but she knew how badly that would hurt her. There was no telling how many broken bones she’d get from a stunt like that. Laying broken up on the side of the road wasn’t going to help her situation.

“Of course you’re sick. Look at you. You’re nothing but a bag of fragile bones wrapped in some skin. Magnus says he can fix your bones. He can make it so they don’t hurt anymore. Your mother knows. She was against it, but Magnus convinced her that this was for the best,” as if knowing her thoughts, he sped the car up a bit, “He even said he can fix your wings.”

“I don’t want to be fixed!”

“Don’t yell at me. You’re my child and I won’t have a freak for a child anymore. You’re doing this. It isn’t your choice,” he snapped back and pulled a small needle from a bag sitting between them, “If you keep acting up, I will sedate you. Don’t make me do that, Lili.”

Scared and starting to panic, “No!” she reached over and grabbed the steering wheel and jerked it as hard as she could, “Take me back to the Professor!”

“Dammit, Lili!” he shouted as the car skid and spun out. He jabbed her in the arm with the needle as the car slammed into a road sign.

She was sure something was broken as pain shot around her chest. Likely a rib. She’d dealt with worse. Scrambling, she unhooked the seat belt and threw the car door open. Her father realized what she was doing and started to grab for her, but she was already out. Tears were rolling down her cheeks as she stumbled along the side of the road for a moment. Her legs felt tired and her head felt fuzzy. Her father managed to get out of the car and grabbed her from behind not even a few feet from the vehicle.

“Please don’t do this!” she pleaded as he dragged her back towards the car, “Please! Daddy!”

“This is for your own good, Lili. I only have your best interest at heart. I promise,” his voice was getting fuzzy and she felt her body going limp, “It’ll be okay. I promise.”

As her eyes got heavy and her vision started to go out, she heard a new voice, “I’ll take care of her from here, Mr. Kline. I’ll make your daughter better and stronger than before.”

“Thank you, Mr. Maximoff.”


	9. Chapter 9

It wasn’t until the sound stopped ringing in her ears that she realized the sound was her own screaming. Lili had never really had a reason before in her life to scream like that. A mirror sitting on the wall across from the bed had shattered. Slowly, she climbed from the bed and walked over to the shattered glass. She looked at it for a moment before touching a few of the pieces. Had she done that? She knew that some people could break glass with the sound of their voice, but Lili was sure that she couldn’t do anything like that. Then again, she’d never tried before.

The next thing she checked out was the little window in the room to see where she was. She wasn’t really sure what to make of the view. It was very dark out. She could barely see anything. The sky looked very stary. She’d never seen a clearer sky. She always heard that the skies in the country were clear. Maybe she was in the middle of some farm country or something. The ground, what she could see of it, was very rocky and gray looking.

The rest of the room was very plain. The now broken mirror, a small bed, and a little chair. That was about it.

Lili went for the door this time. As she expected, it was locked tight. There was a keycode near the handle. Out of frustration, she pounded on it, but that did no good, “Where the hell am I?” she remembered her father picking her up from the institute. They got into a fight and crashed. She tried to run and then blacked out from the sedation. It was highly unbelievable, but apparently it was real. She knew that much from the ache in her side from where she’d likely cracked a rib.

Angry, she kicked the door before going back to the bed and sitting down on the edge of it. She didn’t know what to do, but crying seemed like a good idea. So that’s what she did. She buried her face in her hands and sobbed till her chest hurt. Why would her father do this to her? She was, essentially, gone from his life. He didn’t have to come back to get her and do this. Maybe her mother had wanted her back and he convinced her that the only way he’d accept her back was if they did this. Let this Magnus person take away her mutation. It made her sick to think her father had hated her like this for her whole life.

All Lili could think about was trying to get out of here. The moment that door opened, she was taking off. They couldn’t force her to stay. It didn’t matter what her parents wanted. She was old enough to make decisions for herself. They’d have to let her go and if not, she’d run. What were they going to tell the police? That a mutant girl ran away because her parents wanted them to mutilate her? Once she got out of this building, she’d be safe and could find her way back to the institute.

She had to get back to the Professor and tell him what happened. Whoever this Magnus guy was, he probably had other mutants and was convincing other parents to bring their kids here. She didn’t see how it could be legal either. This was basically kidnap.

Lili was in the middle of wrapping her fingers around the bars crossing the window and pulling on them as hard as she could when she heard beeping sounds coming from the door. Someone was entering in the key code. She ran over to the small chair and picked it up. If they weren’t going to let her leave willingly, then she was going to bash them and run. It seemed like a good idea. It seemed like something Logan would do.

She was expecting to see some aged, bitter doctor in a white lab coat come through the door, but that wasn’t what happened. Instead it was an extremely tall man. Well, she assumed it was a man. It certainly looked like one enough, but it didn’t really look like anything at all. It didn’t have a nose and there were no lips around the mouth. Lili had never seen someone so strange looking before in her life. She just stood there holding the small chair above her head.

“What are you going to do with that, Darling? Hopefully not hit me in the head with it. I’m lacking enough brain cells as it is,” the creature smiled. It’s eyes were cold and dead. No iris or pupil. Just dead gray balls sitting in eye sockets. His smile made him look like some sadistic monster, “Put that down. It’s time for dinner,” he held up a tray of food, “I’ve got you a table too. It’s in the hallway. These rooms are small, I didn’t want you to trip over it when you woke up,” he set the tray down on the foot of the bed and cautiously reached for the chair she was holding, “You don’t want to bash in the head of the person who brought you dinner, do you?”

Lili’s grip on the chair held fast for a moment, but he managed to tug the furniture away. She eyed him as he turned his back to her and then eyed the wide open door he’d left. She could see the corner of the table he intended to drag in, “I wouldn’t think about that if I were you. I’m faster than I look,” she jumped a little as he said this. Could he read minds? If so, then he was a mutant, which she should have gathered from his appearances, “Let’s have dinner. I’ll sit with you. Those sedatives make people hungry,” he smiled again, “You sit on the bed and I’ll take the chair. The bed’s more comfortable.”

She slowly sat on the edge of the bed next to the tray as he went to drag in the small table that matched the chair. She didn’t speak or move as he settled down across the table from her and pushed the food towards her, “You don’t seem the type to eat a lot, but you’ve been out for nearly a day. You have to eat something.”

Lili finally decided to speak, “I have a fast metabolism, but I’m not hungry. Who are you?”

“Well, I’m starved,” he reached over and started to help himself to her food, “The name’s Kevin. Kevin Sydney. You can call me Morph, if you want.”

“Why are you eating my food?” it seemed like such a dumb question, but she was having a hard time focusing.

“You said you weren’t hungry. You snooze, you lose,” he smiled, “I’m sorry we had to sedate you. Your dad said you put up one heck of a fight. I think you even cracked a rib. You should see what that little car crash you caused did to him. It was a lot of blood,” Lili’s eyes went wide, “Don’t worry. He’s fine. Just a few scratches with a lot of blood. Like a papercut,” he smiled again as he drank down half the glass of water he’d brought for her, “You’ll get to see him again in a week or two.”

“...I’m not sure I want to see him again...”

“Don’t be like that, Darling. He just wants what’s best for you. He wants you to get better,” he said that like he actually believe it.

Standing up quick, she rattled the table as she tried to get out from behind it, “I don’t want to be better. I want to go back to the institute. I was to see the Professor and my friends. I want to see Toad,” the last part she wasn’t sure if she meant to say it, but it came out.

“Now calm down, Darling,” he stood and grabbed the edge of the table. He moved the table to block her path and forcing her to stay on the other side of the room, “Just relax. I think you’re confused.”

“I’m not confused! You people are going to cut off my wings! You want to make me ‘normal’. I won’t let you!” she growled as she shoved the table hard into his stomach, “You’re a mutant like me! But you’re acting like this place is a good thing! Get out of my way!” she shoved it again and heard him let out a big gasp of air.

Lili took her chance and scrambled across the table. She grabbed the back of his gray, bald head and slammed it into the tabletop. He groaned as she took off out the still open door. She wasn’t going to stay here. She had to get out. She had to get out now. The sound of Morph calling for her to come back didn’t stop her as she started running. It was then that she realized her feet were bare as they pounded against the cold, metal floor. This place wasn’t like anywhere she’d seen before. It was cold and dark. Everything was made of metal.

It was a large building and as far as she could tell, she didn’t think there was anyone else here except Morph and herself. Surely this Magnus guy was around here somewhere. Lili didn’t want to find him. She wanted to find an exit. None of the doors were marked and most of them were locked tight, “Dammit,” she growled in frustration as she tugged and pulled on the handle of a door that looked like it went outside.

“That would be a bad idea, Darling. This whole place is pressurized. You could kill us all if you got that door open,” it was Morph, “Come back to your room so I can finish eating your dinner,” he liked to smile a lot, it seemed, “I’ve been working all day and I’m starving,” he jerked his head to the side a bit to motion for her to go back the way she came.

“I could fight you...” Lili wasn’t the best fighter at the institute, but she did her best. She even managed to take down Lance and Pietro on rare occasions. Never on her own, but she could do it, “I’m not going back to that room. You can’t make me. You do realize I’m a teenager, don’t you? I’m pretty sure this is some kind of kidnapping.”

“Your parents consented to you coming here.”

“Consenting to mutilate me? I don’t see that holding up in court,” she placed her hands on her hips and thought about her next move. She could run again, but she didn’t know how to get out of here or even where she was.

He laughed lightly and leaned against the wall, “You like to argue. I like that in a woman. The argumentative ones always have the best smiles and laughs. The trick is getting them to do it. I wonder if I can make you smile.”

Taking a deep breath, she clenched her hands into fists, “Tell me how to get out of here. This is the only warning you’re going to get.”

“Feisty. You’re kind of cute when you threaten. Your left eyebrow twitches a little and you get this little wrinkle in the left corner of your mouth. Almost like you’re about to smile, but you’re not, because you’re threatening to hurt me. It’s adorable. I guess it’s a good thing that I can’t show you the way out, cause now I get to see you all angry and jumpy,” she couldn’t tell if he was teasing her or not. Either way, it was making her angry, “Go for it, Darling. Give me your best shot. But if I win, you’re going back to your room.”

He was a mutant, but she had no idea what he could do. It would be foolish for her to just attack, but what choice did she really have? Lili wanted out of here and to get home to the institute. If she had to get through him to do that, then so be it, “Fine!”

Without another thought, she charged him like she’d seen Logan do in training sessions.. The only difference was that Logan was actually terrifying. The sight of an underweight, barefoot, teenage girl, with molting wings was hardly imposing. She watched him pull away from the wall. He actually braced himself as she charged him. She leapt off the ground and put as much force behind herself as so could as she plowed into his chest.

He stumbled back a bit, but barely. She could even get Lance on his back if she ran fast enough. But Morph’s body was different. It absorbed the hit with ease. It was like her shoulder actually pushed into his chest. Like it sank into him. Lili didn’t let up though. She pulled back and tried to punch him, but her fist did the same thing as her shoulder had. It just sank into his body, “What...” she couldn’t even finish her sentence as he grabbed both her wrists and pushed her back into the wall.

“Looks like I win. Back to your room,” Lili struggled for a moment before slamming her heel into his foot and then bringing her knee up into his groin. No matter what this man’s body was made of, she was sure there were certain parts that hurt like any other guy. After Jean’s incident with the Blob, Storm had thought it was a good idea for them to have some non-mutant self defense training. That involved groin kicking and foot stomping. Kitty said that seemed cheap considering their abilities, but Storm said it was best to be prepared no matter the situation. If that involved kicking a man in the crotch, then so be it, “Oh, Darling, that was cheap...” he groaned and she wiggled free of his grasp.

She didn’t stick around to respond. Instead, she took off down the hall. It all looked the same. All of the rooms were the same and all the halls looked alike. She knew she’d gone in a circle when she came to a room with a shattered mirror and a half eaten tray of food spilled over the floor. She stood in the doorway and felt tears welling up again. She was never going to get out of here.

Without warning, the door swung inward and knocked her into the room before slamming shut, “No!” Lili kicked and screamed at the door, “Let me out! Let me out! Please!” she screamed. The door rattled as she screamed, “Ah! Open the door! Open it!” the sides of her hands were starting to bruise from the force of her pounding at the metal door. She only started to quiet down when she heard voices on the other side.

“She’s not going to do this willingly.”

“Of course she will. Her father lied to her. He didn’t understand what I meant when I told him I would make her better. He thinks she’s sick. It’s not my fault if his simple, pathetic mind thought we were going to take away her gifts.”

One of the voices was Morph, but the one that was doing most of the talking was unknown to her. It sounded familiar, but she didn’t know who it belonged to. It was thick and smooth sounded. Almost relaxing if it wasn’t for the situation.

“If she doesn’t calm down, it won’t matter. She thinks we want to mutilate her. She’s stronger than she thinks she is. Just look at the door,” Lili looked down at the door in front of her, but it looked normal, “Don’t get me wrong, I think she cute when she’s freaking out, but it doesn’t make for a good test subject.”

Her eyes widened, “Test subject...” she whispered to herself. They didn’t want to mutilate her, but they wanted to do tests on her? Lili didn’t see much of a difference when it came to the idea of being violated medically.

“Maybe we should get someone willing.”

“She’s too weak for it to matter. We can’t waste our own people. If it works, then it’s a win for all of us and her. If it doesn’t, then at least no one from our cause is lost.”

“And if it works and she’s still angry?”

“I’m sure we can handle one teenage girl. She’s barely delta level right now. I doubt she’ll even come near reaching beta or alpha after the treatment. If anything, she’ll end up a slightly more powerful delta and if she’s unlucky, she’ll become a Epsilon.”

“...one of the unfortunate ones...”

Lili wasn’t putting up with them talking about her like she was some kind of lab rat, “I can hear you! You’re going to have to break every bone in my body to get me to let you do anything to me! I’ll claw your faces if I have to,” she shouted and kicked at the door despite the pain that shot up her leg from doing it.

There was some shuffling outside the door. They sounded surprised to hear her. Did they not know that the doors weren’t soundproof? Maybe they had no reason to not know that if she was their first test subject.

The door shook violently and Lili stumbled back onto the door with wide eyes as the door split apart. It tore down the middle as if it were a piece of simple paper. She pulled her knees up and hugged them to her chest as the door peeled inward. She hadn’t even been able to put a small dent in that door, yet it was falling to pieces now. Lili knew that was nothing she’d done.

“Here’s the problem,” she saw Morph poke his head in from around the side. He was looking at the inside of the door itself, “There’s nothing but dust in there. The inside just crumbled to pieces. Like a cracker,” he chuckled, “I figured you would have spent more money on these things.”

“I did,” the second voice decided to show itself. He was a terrifying figure. Not savage like Logan, but it made her shiver. A thick, black suit covered his whole body with red metal plating. When he took a step, she saw the bottom of his shoes were covered with a metal plating, yet it didn’t click on the metal floor. Draped over his shoulders was a thick, royal purple cape. On his head was a red and purple helmet. Had it not been for the situation, she might have thought it funny that he was wearing something like that. It shadowed his face, leaving only his eyes to be seen with the way the lighting was, “What did you do to this door and that mirror?” he was looking directly at her, but she just pointed to herself, “Yes, you!”

Morph chuckled a bit, “I like her.”

“I didn’t do anything. I just kicked it. I think I broke a toe. I didn’t do anything to the mirror. It was like that when I woke up...”

“It was fine when I checked on her this morning,” the noseless man commented before leaning against the broken door.

“I didn’t do anything! I just want to go home. I’m not going to be your lab rat. I’m not going to let you mutilate me, test me, or do anything to me. You’ll have to break my arms and legs,” yet she still clung her knees to her chest in fright.

“That can be arranged, Darling,” Morph smirked and she glared at him, “Oh, I think somebody loves me. I’m going to make you smile when this is all over with. I promise. Do you like surprises? How about knock-knock jokes?”

The other man waved his hand and the door sealed itself back up as if it were brand new, locking Morph out on the other side, “I think we should talk, Miss. Kline. Or can I call you Harpy? That’s not a very pleasant name for such a pretty young lady.”

“Flattery isn’t going to get you anywhere with someone like me. Magnus, is it? Don’t call me pretty and I won’t say that thing on your head looks like a water bucket.”

“A girl that speaks her mind. That’s not a bad thing. So many young girls these days like to hint around and play games. Nice to see one that doesn’t,” she couldn’t tell what emotion he was trying to come across as without seeing his face, “My name is Magneto. I’m a mutant, like you and Morph. Though much stronger than either of you.”

“How do you know how strong I am?”

“I have an informant who is very close to you. You’ve told him all about your abilities. That’s why I picked you for this. I tried to get you here under better circumstances, but you managed to dodge all of those chances. None of them were able to convince you away long enough to have this conversation. So I went to your parents. They confirmed what I knew about your powers and your weaknesses. I told them I would make you better. Stronger too. Had I known your father’s feelings about your mutation, I would have chosen my words more wisely,” he walked closer and reached up to remove the silly helmet. He was a handsome older man. A strong jaw and thick, white hair. One of those ‘silver fox’ types. He almost reminded her of Pietro.

“What do you plan on doing to me?” she was starting to have doubts that she was going to make it out of here, “And who was your informant?”

“Informants need to remain anonymous, Harpy, but I think you know who it is,” she looked down at her knees and bit her lower lip tightly. There weren’t many people that knew heavy details about her mutation. The only ones that did were the Professor, Kurt, and Toad. She knew the first two would never do anything like this. Toad, however, she knew the group he hung out with. They were the types to do anything they could to get what they wanted. They’d sell their own mothers if they got the chance, “As for what I plan on doing to you, I already told you. Make you better and stronger. Your bones are brittle and break so easily, but you endure the pain in a way that so few others in the world can. Your wings, should they work again after that your father did to them with those straps, are different from other mutant wings.”

She’d never thought about her wings all that much other than the fact that they were there and didn’t work for their intended purposes. The Professor had been working hard with her and she was able to flutter them a little bit, but she was still far from being able to actually fly, “How are they different?”

“Did your parents teach you about religion or the mythology of faiths?” she shook her head, “Of course not. There are many mutants in the world with wings. Angel like ones, like yours, but each is different. For most, their wings are built to support their human bodies. You are the opposite. You are built to support your wings. Hence your brittle, light bones. I bet you have the metabolism of a humming bird. You remind me of an Archangel in appearance. They are a lot like normal angels, only they rule over them and are a lot more full of themselves. Their true form can be quite scary, and they often have to tell humans ‘Fear not’ when they first encounter them because even in their human-friendly form they still have an aura of something powerful and unsettling about them...but I have a feeling that had you been raised by mutants, you would be much different now. Your wings are very weak right now and I thought, on first glance, that they were deformed. But their not, are they? You’ve noticed it too since you left your parents home, haven’t you.”

Lili stared into her knees. She didn’t want to answer, but she did, “Yeah. It’s like they grew into each other. The Professor noticed it, but he didn’t think anything about it...”

“I’m sure he did, but he has a way of keeping secrets...” Magneto didn’t seem to want to dwell on that, “You have six wings. Since you stopped wearing those straps so much, you’ve started to notice it...?”

She nodded, “Yeah. It hurts sometimes.”

“You’re much more like a Seraphim than you are an Archangel,” he didn’t bother to explain what a seraphim actually was, “I can make that pain stop. Not only for you, but for all mutants who feel it. They feel the painful tugging in their bones and their skin. All they can do is wait for it to stop and hope it doesn’t come back, but it always does. It’s because even as evolved as we are at our births, we’re still growing. The pain will not stop till we are fully evolved,” the Professor had explained something like that to her before, but in nicer terms, “I can make it stop. I can evolve you to your highest point.”

“The Professor said it takes a long time to evolve like that and that we have to let it take it’s time so that it happens properly. Nature knows what it’s doing and we shouldn’t force it...”

“Do you want to spend the rest of your life hoping that your wings will work one day or that your bones will harden? Or do you want to find out now? If the treatment doesn’t fix those things, then they will never be fixed. It would be a better use of your time to find out now and not think about it for the rest of your life.”

“You said I might become an Epsilon. What’s that?” she couldn’t believe that she was actually starting to consider this, but she at least wanted all of the information first.

“The Epsilon is a classification of mutants. There are several classifications based on powers, flaws, and even appearances.”

“Appearances? Isn’t that shallow?”

He chuckled a little, “Yes, but appearances for mutants can usually give you an idea of their powers. Sometimes a physical appearance is part of the mutation and can be a blessing or a curse. There are a lot of mutants that have physical mutations like yourself,” she seemed surprised to hear that since most of the mutants she’d met so far looked completely normal, “Epsilon mutants have no chance of living among human society due to major flaws in their appearance or powers. About twenty percent of the mutant population falls into this classification. Their powers tend to be very minimal as well. Some would say they are even useless powers.”

“Wow...”

“The level above that is the Delta mutants. It’s a common type. About fifty percent of all mutants fall into this level. They have a normal human appearance, but their mutagenic powers are weaker or only narrowly applicable, though still controllable. This is where you fall. I would say due to your appearance, you are somewhere between a high level Epsilon and a low level Delta,” she didn’t like hearing that and wondered if it was because of how she looked, “Above that is Beta level mutants. About ten percent of the mutant population is here. Powerful mutants with uncontrollable powers. They can live among humans with minimal preparation. Your friend Scott Summers falls into this. Above Beta are the Alphas. Your Professor is one of these. Less than ten percent of mutants falls into this category. Powerful, feared, and with very few weaknesses. Between Beta and Alpha falls the Gamma Level Mutants. Their powers are uncontrollable, but extremely powerful. They also cannot live a ‘normal’ life. Your friend Rogue fits in here. She looks human, she is more powerful than anyone can imagine, but she will always be alone because her power is out of her control and detrimental to living a normal life.”

“Is there anything above an Alpha?” she couldn’t imagine why such information had not been given to her by the Professor. Did he not want them to know about all these differences?

He nodded slightly as he pulled the chair over and took a seat, “Omega mutants. This is the most powerful classification of mutants.”

“What can they do?”

“They have immense control over energy and matter. Imagine a mutant that could control liquid. Does that sound powerful?” she shook her head, “You’re wrong. Most of the world is made up of some kind of liquid. That mutant, trained well enough, would be able to control your body. They could drain you of all your blood and watch you turn to ash. Sound powerful now?” she nodded this time.

“What kind of mutant are you? What can you do?”

“I’m an Omega. My powers are limitless,” she went a little wide eyed and her mouth gaped a little as he talked, “I can maintain total control of an entire planet's electromagnetic field and manipulate it accordingly. The power to channel, manipulate, and generate magnetic fields that exist naturally or artificially. I can use my magnetic powers in more than one way simultaneously. I’m also resistant to telepathic attacks.”

Lili didn’t know what to say. She didn’t think mutants could have powers that strong. Apparently she was wrong, “Can a mutant change their level?”

“Of course. Not all can, but most.”

“...does the Professor know all of this stuff?” she didn’t even know if Magneto knew the other man, but it seemed like important information. If she’d know that she was pretty much the lowest link on the chain of mutants, she might have started pushing herself harder to get stronger.

“He does, but Xavier prefers a different method. He would rather you hide in shame. Make you wear those things,” he pointed to the inducer around her neck and she reached up to touch it lightly, “He would rather wait for you to evolve and grow, in the hopes that it will actually happen. He gets your hopes up with idea that we can be accepted by humans. Maybe mutants like himself or myself can, but do you really think anyone will ever accept you?” she hated to do it, but shook her head sadly, “Mutants like you will always have to fight, no matter what. It’s not fair to make you wait your whole life for an evolution in your powers that might never come. What if people found out you were a mutant and decided to beat you? Your wings are dead, you can’t fly away, you’re not a good fighter, and your bones are like glass. They’ll kill you.”

“...but you can fix that?”

“I can’t promise that I can, but I can give you the best fighting chance you’ll have. I can’t promise that your mutation isn’t already fully evolved or that the evolution it will take will be of use to you or even good for you...but wouldn’t you rather know? It can, at least, fix your wings.”

Lili didn’t answer right away. She hugged her knees tighter, “...I’ve always wanted to fly. Will it hurt? The treatment?”

He nodded, “I’m sure there will be discomfort and possibly pain. Though won’t it be worth it if it works? I’ll give you a few days to think about it,” that was different. Before he talked to her, it sounded like, through the door, that he was going to force it whether she wanted it or not. She wondered if he would still do that.

“Can I go back to the institute when it’s done?”

“If you want to, but I hope you’ll chose to join my team and help find more mutants to help the way I am you,” he stood and headed for the door, “I’ll send Morph with some more food. Please try not to wander too much. There isn’t much to see anyway.”

“Where exactly are we anyway?”

“Space. An asteroid. Asteroid M, to be exact.”


	10. Chapter 10

Asteroid M was a rather boring place. She explored whatever doors she could get through, despite the warning not to wander too much. She figured that the places he was warning about were behind the locked doors. She was curious, but lockpicking wasn’t a skill she had much of. There was an observation deck that had an amazing view of the Earth. There were at least a dozen other types of rooms. Most of them looked like the room she was staying in. Plain and small. She found the infirmary rooms and even a room that had weapons in it. That room was locked tight, but there was a small window on the door she could look through. Lili decided that this was some kind of military base.

She wasn’t sure how scientists or military hadn’t found this place, but she was sure Magneto had something to do with that. Whether it was money, mutation power, or power in general, she knew that had something to do with it.

She didn’t see Magneto himself around much, but figured he was here somewhere. Lurking around working on whatever it was he planned on doing. She didn’t believe for a minute the whole bit about wanting to help less fortunate mutants like herself. He seemed more the type that used ones like her as the taste tester for poison. If she survived, then he’d likely offer it only to the best of the best. Still, the chance that she might become stronger or at least more durable was hard to resist.

Lili had a lot to think about in the days Magneto gave her to work over it. The biggest was whether to go through with the treatment or not. He hadn’t given her much information about what exactly the treatment was. He said it involved something called ‘gems of cyttorak’. That didn’t set off anything in her head. He told her that depending on her decision, he would explain the gems more to her.

Another thing was whether she was going to go back to the institute or stay here. She had no doubts that the Professor would accept her back. He probably still thought she was with her parents. Yet, it wasn’t all that bad here on M. It was quiet and peaceful. The down side to that was that it reminded her of home. Of how her parents kept her locked up. She could see the whole world, but never touch it or be a part of it. Would he make her stay here if she joined with him? Would he even let her join him if the treatment wasn’t a complete success? Lili doubted it. Again, he seemed the type that only wanted the Alphas and Omegas around him.

The last thing on her mind was Toad. She felt betrayed by him. Had he really only wanted to get close to her to get information for Magneto? In truth, how different was that really from how she knew he felt about her? She was just a girl that was at his level that was willing to put up with him. They hung out together out of tolerance and similarities. He didn’t want to kiss her or be with her, not really. He would just rather have someone than to have no one. He’d made that clear a few times. Lili guessed the reason she was upset about it was because she actually did like him. She still even dreamed about him. About them kissing and fooling around.

There was even a moment or two that she thought about what would be happening if she hadn’t gone with her father. She’d be out of school and on summer vacation with the others. Toad and her would still be meeting up. She even thought that she might have taken up his offer to fool around at his place. They’d lay on his bed kissing and eventually one of his hands would make its way somewhere it wasn’t supposed to go. She’d have to decide whether to let him continue or not.

Groaning, she leaned her forehead against the cold glass of the observation deck. If she did go back, she decided that she wouldn’t see him anymore. It wasn’t worth it to like someone who didn’t like you back. It didn’t matter if anyone was ever attracted to her. Life wasn’t about those sorts of things. Toad was just some jerk who was doing what he was told to do. He probably even lied about liking her well enough to want to kiss her. Magneto probably told him to do that too. And yet, she was only able to find herself mad at Toad. Likely because he was the one doing it. Magneto didn’t know her and so had no reason to care how it would affect her. Toad did.

“You spend a lot of time out here, Darling.”

She turned her head, but kept it still leaned against the glass, just enough so she could see him, “Hi, Morph,” she was getting used to him. He’d yet to make her smile, but he was funny, “I like looking at it,” she meant the Earth, “Right now, if I hadn’t got into that car with my dad, I’d be right about there,” she pressed the tip of one of her long nails to the glass, “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure. Can’t promise that I’ll answer though.”

“Are you going to go through with the treatment if it works on me?”

He sniffed and smirked for a moment, “Nope. Don’t need to. I’m pretty sure I’m fully evolved. Even if I wasn’t, it wouldn’t make that much of a difference. My body is made up of unstable molecules. My mutation isn’t that I can shapeshift. My mutation is that my body is unstable, which allows me to shapeshift. Shifters like me don’t tend to evolve much. Our bodies go through so many changes when we take different forms that it doesn’t really matter if we evolve,” that made sense and didn’t make sense at the same time, “Do you miss your friends?”

“Yeah. I wish I could talk to them. They probably think I’m with my parents being all happy and stuff,” she sighed and watched her breath form on the window. With her fingernail, she traced little lines in the fog till it disappeared.

“You’re not happy here?” he shook his head, “Stupid question, never mind. The whole darkness and silence of space does get to you pretty quickly. I bet I can make you smile though,” he smiled as he said it.

“You haven’t been able to yet.”

“You’ve not given me a good enough chance. Come on,” he grabbed her hand and started tugging her along as he walked, “I’ll show you something,” she didn’t have much of a choice as she was sure he would have dragged her if she didn’t follow. He tugged her through a few halls and ignored her when she asked where they were going. Eventually, they came to a room like her own, except it looked more lived in and there was a TV, “TV is my favorite thing,” he commented as he walked her over to sit right in front of the box at the foot of his bed.

Confused, she stated, “How is this supposed to make me smile? Do you even get reception up here?”

“Wait, wait, wait,” he repeated as he turned the nearly ancient looking television set on. It was a screen of white fuzz. So was the second channel he went to, and the third, and the fourth, “Just a minute...”

“I really don’t think I’m in the mood to watch TV...” but he waved his hand to tell her to stop talking.

“Here we go...” a picture finally showed up. It was a news report and she rolled her eyes. News wasn’t something that interested her all that much. Before she could say anything, Morph changed. His body vibrated and contorted for a moment. Seconds later, she wasn’t looking at the tall, bald, gray man anymore. Instead, it was the short news anchor from the show. Complete all the way down to his cheap suit and ugly shoes, “In other news, I’m an idiot,” Morph spoke, but it wasn’t his voice. It was the voice of the news anchor. Lili wouldn’t deny being impressed by the degree of detail of his mutation, “I also wear a toupée so people don’t know that I have a bump head.”

It was stupid and childish, but silly. Lili pursed her lips together to keep from smirking and shook her head, “Not my kind of humor.”

“Okay, okay,” it was his own voice this time and sounded strange coming out of the mouth of the news anchor. He looked at the TV again for a moment, flipping through several static channels before finding some movie. There was a pretty woman on the screen with a strange sounding voice. Morph took on her form. Even the dress and heels. She didn’t understand how he could change his clothing. It was one thing to change his own body, but clothing wasn’t attached to that. Question for another time, she supposed, “So it’s my birthday and my boyfriend got us a trip to the Florida Keys as my present. It was so great. We get to the airport and the bastard got himself first class, but not me. Have you ever had one of those moments where you just feel crazy, but you’re not sure if it’s warranted? Yeah, that was one of those times. So I called my girlfriend and asked her if it was normal to feel like stabbing him in the throat. You know you have a good friend when they can rationalize your feelings and calm you down. So like the great friend she is, she says ‘Do it!’ I love my friend.”

It was such a stupid joke and she didn’t find it all that funny. But the thought that it was really Morph under it all and the voice of the woman he was using made her snort. She still didn’t smile though, “Stabbing people isn’t funny.”

“One more, this one will work for sure,” it was even weirder to hear his voice coming out of a woman’s mouth than it was the new anchor. He flipped the channel a few more times and stood between her and the TV so she couldn’t see. He then turned it off before turning back to her. He turned into an older man. The appearance and voice looked familiar, but she couldn’t seem to place it right away, “The real reason that we can’t have the Ten Commandments in a courthouse: You cannot post “Thou shalt not steal,” “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” and “Thou shalt not lie” in a building full of lawyers, judges, and politicians. It creates a hostile work environment,” she giggled a little and covered her mouth, “When someone is impatient and says, 'I haven't got all day,' I always wonder, How can that be? How can you not have all day?”

Lili couldn’t help it anymore. She snorted a little before laughing. The jokes weren’t that great at all, but he pulled them off well, “George Carlin. I remember watching that on TV. My parents made me turn it off because they thought he was vulgar.”

The man changed back into himself and smiled, “That’s better. I was right, you have a great smile. Most women did. That’s why I like to make them smile,” he walked over and sat down next to her, “Why are you so sad anyway? I know you were angry at your dad, but isn’t it good that he was mistaken in what he thought we were going to do to you?” she supposed it was and nodded, “So why so sad? You miss your friends?”

“Yeah.”

“Your boyfriend?”

Lili shrugged, “Don’t have one. I’m in high school, which means that most of the student population judges me because of the way I look and so I’ll never have a real date or anything like that. I’m not sad about it though. It’s hard to care about other people’s opinions when I’ve never had to before.”

“You mentioned the other day that you wanted to see someone named Toad. You mentioned your friends before him. He’s not someone...special?”

She wasn’t sure she wanted to talk to him about this. She barely knew him, but it wasn’t like there were a ton of people around here for him to gossip to, “Not really. He’s kind of a jerk, actually.”

“Then why mention him?”

“I don’t know. I was frantic. I just woke up in this place, some guy with no nose or lips comes in with food, and all I knew was that you people wanted to rip my wings off. I don’t even remember saying his name.”

“Which means you really like him. You said his name without thought. Why is he a jerk?”

Lili shrugged again, “He just is. We have a lot in common though. He’s not very nice to look at and he smells a bit...but he always showers whenever we get together. Well, most of the time. Sometimes, I thought he really liked me...but I think the only reason he ever wanted to be around me is because Magneto told him to. He always asked all of these personal questions. I just thought he wanted to get to know me.”

“You know, just because he was giving that information to Magneto doesn’t mean he doesn’t like you. How do you know that he isn’t the one that told Magneto to pick you? Maybe he just wants to help you. With your bones, it could make, uh, intimate acts difficult,” Morph smirked.

“And that’s the end of this conversation,” Lili wasn’t going into that part of her life, “Thanks for the laugh, but I’m going back to my room. I still have some things to think about.”

“Didn’t mean to touch on a sore subject,” he raised his hands up in defense, “But if you want to talk, I’m here.”

“Thanks, but last guy I opened up to landed me here. I’m pretty much over it already,” at least that was what she was telling herself. Lili didn’t want to think about Toad anymore. She needed to focus on the treatment and nothing else. The good and the bad that could come of it. Toad had no bearing in that choice, “I’ll see you around.”

“Hey,” she stopped and looked back at him, “Just remember to smile. Okay? It’ll make the choice easier if you try to stay happy about it.”

Lili smiled and nodded lightly, “I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you...”


	11. Chapter 11

“Magneto! I think I want to change my mind,” who wouldn’t in her position? Lili had to squeeze her eyes shut due to the bright medical lab sitting above her face, “Are the restraints really necessary?”

The man’s voice echoed through the room. She knew he wasn’t in here. Something about radiation, “Harpy, I need you to stop moving. This is delicate work and I don’t want you to get hurt,” it was almost laughable. He didn’t want her hurt, but he was about to bombard her body with radiation from some weird crystals, “We don’t know how you’ll react to the treatment, so the restraints are a precaution. Now quit moving.”

“Is Morph back yet? Can he be in here?” she felt close to the Play-Doh like man. He made her laugh and she’d felt better about being here and making this choice by talking with him. Yet she hadn’t seen him in almost two days. Magneto said that he was off taking care of personal business, “He said he’d be back in time.”

“No. Now hold still.”

Lili sighed and relaxed her neck so her head would lay back on the medical table. The room was freezing and she felt a little embarrassed to be wearing as little clothing as she was. Goosebumps covered every inch of bared skin, “Can’t I put a sweater on?” this bathing suit thing was not cutting it for her, “Or pants? Or both? Can I lay on my stomach instead, my wings are getting squished.”

“Harpy!”

“Sorry!” she bit onto the inside of her cheek to keep from saying anything else, “...I just wish someone else was here...” she muttered to herself.

“Just lie back and think of England, Darling,” she heard Morph’s voice echo through the room and she giggled.

“Morph, That’s disgusting!” she tried to raise her hand up to cover her mouth as she giggled, but the wrist restraints stopped that.

“Quiet...” Magneto’s voice took on a deeper tone and she pursed her lips together tightly.

“I’m going to talk to you, Harpy, but don’t respond,” Morph was trying to keep her relaxed, “You know, Harpy doesn’t fit you. We should come up with a different name for you. Maybe Erinyes. They are like the Roman Furies. They were known as those who beneath the earth punish whosoever has sworn a false oath. Not that you’re all that vengeful and they were pretty hideous.”

“Morph, that’s not helping. Just stop talking. Please?” she really didn’t want to discuss what new ugly bird creature she should be named after.

“Anything you want, Darling.”

Lili took a deep breath as the lights around her started to go out. Finally, the light above her face faded out and she could open her eyes. Everything had a big, fuzzy ball of light in front of it. Maybe Magneto thought she would panic less if he blinded her. It wasn’t helping. If anything, she felt like running more now than ever before. She would have rather been able to see everything.

A bright red-purple glow started to lower from the ceiling. As it got closer, she realized it was some kind of stone. The gem of Cyttorak that Magneto had mentioned. It was beautiful. Morph didn’t know much about the gems. He did know that they were once thought to have mystical properties, but was now known to emit radiation. She wanted to reach up and touch it, but her arms were held fast to the table. She really didn’t see how something like that could do anything to her.

A mechanical arm held the gem about two inches above the center of her chest, “I’m going to start the process now, Harpy. Try to stay relaxed,” easier said than done.

There was a loud humming noise and Lili was able to raise her head enough to see the gem vibrating. It still didn’t make sense to her what was supposed to happen. Closing her eyes, she tried to focus on just her breathing. Magneto seemed like a smart man. It wasn’t like she knew anything about these machines or how to use them. He probably knew better than her about what was normal and what wasn’t when it came to things like this.

The humming noise was kind of relaxing. Kind of like a fan blowing in a dark room. That relaxing noise that lulled you off to sleep slowly.

At least it was till something plowed into her chest. Her eyes shot open and she started struggling. It felt like something was trying to claw its way into her body, “Ah!” she started screaming as she struggled against the restraints.

“Harpy, calm down. Stop moving!” Magneto tried to order her, but it didn’t work.

“Stop it! It hurts!” it felt like all of her ribs were cracking. She couldn’t see anything except bright red light, “Make it stop! Oh god, make it stop!” tears started rolling down her cheeks as she started trying to kick her legs, “Something’s wrong! Make it stop!” but it didn’t. The pain continued. Every bone in her body felt like it was being smashed with a sledge hammer. Lili knew what that felt like, surprisingly. Pietro had taken a cheap shot at her once during a fight and smashed her hand with one. That’s what it felt like. As if every bone was just crumbling to pieces.

She’d never felt her wings move before in her life, at least no more than a small flutter, but they were going crazy right now. They forced their way out from under her body and feathers were flung everywhere as they flapped hard in protest of the pain. There was a loud ringing in her ears that blocked out the sound of everything else. Even the flapping of her wings was silenced by the ringing noise.

Finally, it stopped. She felt everything in her body go limp. Her wings fell down hard and feathers floated to the table and ground. She couldn’t move an inch of her body. What she could do was lay her head to the side and glance around with her eyes. There wasn’t much to see. Everything was blurry with tears. Her chest felt like it was going to cave in with each breath. As sudden as the pain had been, she felt tired.

Before passing out, her eyes saw shattered glass all over the floor. She looked up and saw the little observation room for the lab. All of the windows had been busted out. Morph was crouched on the ground like Toad, his hands were pressed into the sides of his head to cover his ears. Magneto was standing, but she couldn’t see his face through the shadow of his helmet. He took a step towards the broken windows and walked out of it. She would have gasped, but her chest and body ached too much to do that. He didn’t get hurt though. Apparently he could fly or jump very well. Lili didn’t want to think about it right now.

She watched him walk across the glass and feathers to stand next to her, “You did well, Harpy. I’m proud of you.”

That was the last thing she heard before everything went dark.

***

She woke up with a groan. Her whole body ached. It felt like she was on fire. Was this really supposed to be better than what she was before? Maybe he botched it and now she was going to be in pain for the rest of her life.

Sitting up slowly, she looked at her arms, hands, and legs. Nothing looked different. Nothing felt different, “...he botched it...” she muttered before looking over to the small chair that sat next to her bed. Morph was fast asleep in it. She wanted to think that it was sweet that he was there, but she reminded herself that he worked for Magneto and was probably only there because he was ordered to guard her.

As quietly as she could, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and went to stand up. Her bladder couldn’t take it anymore. The moment she got on her feet, she flailed her arms forward and fell backwards onto the bed, “Owww...” she whined as she tried to get up again with the same result. Something was wrong. Not only had he screwed it up, but he made her worse, “Morph! Wake up!” she grabbed a pillow and flung it at his head, “Get up!” she snapped as he jerked awake as the pillow made impact, “I need to pee.”

“Then go. I’m sleeping,” he grumbled.

“If I could do that, then I wouldn’t be throwing things at you,” she flung her last pillow at him, “I can’t stand up. Something is wrong with my legs.”

“Well somethings wrong with my ears. You damn near busted my eardrums yesterday,” he actually sounded upset about something she didn’t remember, “Did you have to scream so much? I’m pretty sure you broke half the windows in the building.”

Lili didn’t remember anything like that, “I did not. That stupid gem did it,” she snapped, “Please, I really need to pee. Help me up. I don’t know what’s wrong with my legs,” it was starting to worry her. She could feel her legs, so they weren’t paralyzed. She could even move them. So she didn’t understand what was wrong with them and why they wouldn’t let her stand.

“It’s not your legs,” he finally stretched and climbed up from the chair. He walked around the bed and slipped an arm around her waist and helped pull her up to her feet, “It’s your wings. They’re heavier and bigger than they were before. You need to get used to the extra weight.”

Confused, Lili held onto him as she tried to peer over her shoulders. She was surprised to see her wings. They were bigger. The feathers were bright white, not dingy anymore. Experimentally, she tried to raise one and it actually did as she wanted it to. Even more surprising, she’d started noticing weird notches under her wings recently. Two under each wing. Kind of in a triangle shape so it didn’t go far down her back. Not only were her wings bigger and responsive now, those four little knots had busted open. They were more wings. Lili had suspected that, but didn’t think it would actually happen. She had six wings. The other four wings weren’t huge, but they were big enough. Testing her control of them, the center pair wrapped around her waist, “Hey, I can move them move individually,” she laughed a little bit and he smiled.

“They look great,” he said softly as he helped her towards the bathroom.

“Does anything else look different? My nails look longer...” though she couldn’t remember paying that much attention to them to begin with, “I don’t really feel different.”

“Your nails are longer. They look thicker too,” he was right. She held a hand up to her face. They narrowed more towards the tips, kind of like claws, “Your hair is longer too and you look older,” she wrinkled her nose and he chuckled, “Just a year or two. More mature, not old.”

“I wonder if it slowed my metabolism or made my bones stronger. I hope so,” for now, both of those felt the same.

“Magneto wants to run some tests for those things. I think we should wait till you can walk on your own before we do that. Think you can go by yourself?” he teased as he propped the bathroom door open for her.

She smirked and reached out to use the wall to keep her balanced, “Yeah, I got it from here. Thanks.”

***

It was another day before she saw Magneto again. He said that the treatment had been an amazing success. Not only had her mutation evolved, but it evolved for the better. He told her that she would be flying in no time, “If we do another treatment, I’m sure we can get the other four wings to grow fully as well.”

“Really?” Lili bit her lip a little, “I don’t know. It hurt a lot and this is good enough, isn’t it? Nature can take if from here, right?”

“That could take decades, Harpy. One more treatment with the gem and you’ll be fully evolved. It might even slow down your metabolism,” which was one thing the tests showed hadn’t changed. Her bones were stronger now, but still easily broken. Where it took one hit against a bleacher to snap her wrist before, it would probably take five or six, “It could even make your bones even stronger. It aged you a little. I think with a little more, you’ll be fully evolved. Have you tried out your screaming?”

Lili shook her head, “I didn’t want to break anything...and I’ll have to think about it. If it only aged me about two years, then I probably didn’t even need the treatment to begin with,” at least that was what she was telling herself to talk herself out of doing it again.

“It’ll just be one more and it’ll be different this time. I’ve been building a new machine that will take the pain down to a mild discomfort. I tested it on myself last night and barely felt a thing,” not that she thought he needed to enhance his powers anymore.

“Can I go now? I wanted to tell Morph about the tests.”

He nodded and waved her off. Lili still found it difficult to walk, but she could do so with minimal issue now. She kept one hand on the wall for balance as she made her way through the halls to his room. He was sitting on the bed watching the TV. At random, he’d shapeshift into whoever was on the screen and mimic what they said, “You must have been great with impressions in school,” she teased and he smiled.

“The best. Always made the other kids laugh,” he pat the bed next to him and she climbed onto the mattress, “What did the tests say?”

“Well, no immaculate conception just yet, but other than that, good results. Magneto thinks my other wings are going to grow larger. My metabolism is still high and my bones are still weak. It takes more force to break them now, but not much. He says that he thinks the gem aged me about two years.”

“So you’re eighteen now?”

“Only physically. Mentally, I feel the same. Magneto wants me to go through it again. He says it’ll be a little different this time. Less pain, but I don’t know. If it was only going to take two years for me to start evolving more anyway, then I probably didn’t need to go through with it in the first place. I don’t think it’s going to change anything other than my bones and wings anyway. I’d rather let those change on their own for now. I’m still stumbling when I walk,” Lili didn’t want to have to learn to balance again.

Morph wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to lean against him, “What could it hurt though? A quick procedure and you’ll never have to worry about the whole awkward teenage growing phases.”

“But then I’ll look too old to go to school with my friends. I still need to go to school,” she curled up against his body. Morph had a strange body. It was always warm and soft. He had the appearance of muscles, but to touch him, he felt like soft clay. She knew this had something to do with his mutation.

Morph stroked her shoulder and held her close, “You don’t have to go to school. You can stay here. Be a part of our team. Who better to teach you and help you than people like you?”

It was a nice thought. To just stay here and work with Magneto. If the treatment worked for her, then it would work for others. That wasn’t enough though, “I don’t know...” she shrugged and reached up to play with the fingers on her shoulder, “I miss my friends and the Professor says it’s good for us to socialize with non-mutants. It’ll make it easier for them to accept us in the long run if they know what kind of people we are.”

“Yeah. Sure,” she’d never heard him sound so down before as he pulled his arm away and sat up against the headboard.

“You’re upset?”

“A little. I was hoping you’d stay.”

Lili frowned and scooted away from him a little bit, “Toad is part of the Brotherhood. He got his orders to be nice to me from Magneto. I’m grateful for what he’s done for me, but I don’t trust him. I don’t think I could be around someone like that for too long. If he wants to help mutants like me, then that’s okay, but I don’t agree with what the Brotherhood wants. I can’t be a part of that.”

“Let’s not talk about this right now. I want to talk about something else,” which was fine by her, “You should change your name. Harpy doesn’t fit you. It didn’t fit you before either,” he’d mentioned that before the treatment started, “I think Kree sounds nice.”

“That’s not a word. I don’t think that’s even a thing,” she shook her head and smiled, “What does it mean? Is it some kind of mythological, hideous bird thing?”

“Not at all. It’s the sound you make when you screech. I heard it when you first woke up here. You broke that mirror. Then you did it again when you broke the door. And you did it during the treatment,” Magneto had asked her about that too. Lili remembered screaming, but not like that. Just ringing in her ears, mostly, “It sounds a bit like a crow, but more like ‘kreeeee’. It’s kind of cute, till it gets to the point of busting out eardrums,” he smirked and slipped his arm around her waist to pull her to lay against him again, “What do you think?”

It did sound nicer than Harpy, “Can we do that? Just change our names?”

“Why not? It’s our names. You’ve evolved more, so it only seems fitting that you find a name that suits you better. You were never a harpy anyway. Harpies as being ‘ugly’ were a late development due to confusion with sirens. They were also cruel and violent. You’re none of those things,” she shrugged a little, “Unless you’ve secretly been killing people your whole life.”

“No. I didn’t pick harpy anyway. A friend did.”

“Well, now a new friend is trying to tell you that you deserve a better name. You’ll at least think about it, won’t you?” she gave him a small nod, “And even if you do decide to leave, we’ll still see each other, right?” she nodded again. She liked Morph. He was funny and made her laugh, “Good. I’d hate to see you just disappear.”

The conversation stopped after that. They settled into the bed and watched the TV. It was comforting to be doing things like that.

***

It had been almost two weeks since she was brought to Asteroid M. She knew that the Professor would be expecting to hear from her soon. She tried to explain this to Magneto and Morph, but they both told her not to worry about it. She even told them that she wanted to go back. That she didn’t want the second treatment. It concerned her that Magneto wouldn’t let her leave. It wasn’t like she could just run away. Did he intend on keeping her here till she changed her mind?

“Really, I am grateful for you helping me. I feel better now than I have in years. I’m thankful for that, but there’s no telling what a second treatment will do to me. What if the radiation is bad? What if it kills me or makes me sick?” she felt they were valid concerns, “I probably shouldn’t have gone through with it the first time. It’s only been a week and a half. There could be long term problems,” again, another valid reason in her mind.

“Think of the good it can do for our people, Kree,” even Morph was pushing her for it now.

“Can’t we just wait a little longer? What if I feel good now and then I get sick? Shouldn’t we wait and make sure there are no bad side effects?”

“There isn’t time to wait,” Magneto stood up and took a step towards her, “We have to do this now. The enhancing chamber is finished. All you have to do is walk through it and come out the other side. No restraints, no pain.”

“But why does it have to be right now?” she folded her arms in an attempt to show that she wasn’t scared of him, but she was. He was powerful. He could keep her here till she died if he wanted to.

“It has to be now,” he demanded without answering her question as to why. Lili didn’t feel comfortable here anymore, “You’re the only one who has been through the process so far,” he seemed to be ignoring the fact that he told her that he tested it on himself as well, “You’re the only one who can give us proper results.”

“But you said you went through it.”

“Yes, I did, but it only amplified my power. It did not evolve them. You have to do this, Kree. There are no other options. You do not want to cross me...” she could see his eyes under the helmet and knew he was serious.

Out of desperation, she looked to Morph, but he just looked away, “I see...”

Morph walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder before leaning down and kissing her cheek, “It’ll be alright, Darling. We wouldn’t hurt you.”

With a frown, she yanked herself free from his touch, “I’m sure...” she snipped before storming past them both. She leaned back against the wall near the door and covered her face with her hands. She knew that they tended to talk about her once she left a room. She was sure that they knew she was listening, but they didn’t seem to care. Most of what they talked about were things she had no choice in the matter or didn’t really concern her.

“I don’t think she’s ready for this. All she talks about is going home and seeing her friends. She’s not going to stay here after the treatment. We should just hold off and find someone else. Just let her go. She’s not a danger to anything...” Lili almost rolled her eyes hearing Morph say that. Why couldn’t he say that while she was in the room? She’d questioned his friendship, but at least he was trying to get her out of here.

“That’s not an option. If she won’t do it willingly, then she’ll be forced. If you have an issue with that, Morph, then I think you need to start wondering what side you’re on. No matter what happens to her, this is for the survival of our kind. If she dies, she’ll be a martyr for our cause. The weaker mutants will die for our cause and our survival. That is the natural order of things,” Lili swallowed hard and sank down to the floor, ignoring the slight pain it caused her wings to do so. Magneto was going to kill her. She was sure of it, “Sacrifice is the only way we will continue to evolve.”

“I don’t agree.”

“It’s a good thing it’s not your choice then. Learn your place,” the older man growled lowly.

“Or what?” she was surprised to hear Morph standing up like this. The man had been nothing but praising of Magneto’s supposed plans. At least that was what she’d heard from him. Maybe he was just trying to keep her from getting upset and they fought like this when she wasn’t around.

There was a loud, straining sound. It hurt her ears to hear it. Then a lot of movement and she heard Morph cry out. Quickly, she stood and ran back into the room to see Morph being restrained by dozens of pieces of metal against a wall. Magneto stood there watching, “I will crush you,” she wondered why he didn’t shift into a form that could get him out of the metal, but she didn’t really know how much his ability really allowed him to do.

“Let him go!” she rushed at the metal bending mutant, but fell hard onto the ground as the chair of a leg reached out and wrapped around her foot, “Leave him alone!” she fought as the metal objects in the room took on a life of their own and started to bind her to the floor. Lili didn’t like doing it, but she tried to start screaming in the hopes that it might break something, anything, but Magneto had apparently thought about that. A scrap piece of metal shot up and wrapped around her head, covering her mouth. With her arms bound, she couldn’t even attempt to pry it off.

He walked over and leaned down to brush hair from her face as she struggled, “I’m sorry it has to be this way, Kree, but as I said there are no other options. Survival of the fittest is the highest priority. If you cannot survive, then you will at least be remembered for your weaknesses,” tears welled up in her eyes as she glanced over at Morph. He was struggling as much as she was, “I hate to do this, but if you try to escape or do escape...” he glanced over his shoulder at Morph, “I’ll have to do something I really don’t want to. Do you understand?”

She couldn’t stop the tears falling down her face as he threatened Morph. She cared about him more than she wanted to admit. Lili gave a small, submitting nod of her head that she understood and the straps of metal started to release, “What do I need to do?” she asked defeatedly.

“Go down to the hanger and wait for me,” he gave his order as she stood up from the ground.

“What’s going to happen to Morph?”

“I said go to the hanger,” his back was to her and she thought for a moment to try to attack him. Lili knew she was no match.

Taking in a breath and clenching her fists, she turned and ran from the room.


	12. Chapter 12

“I think it’s time we brought some others here. Allow them the same opportunities that I have for you. What do you think?”

“Yeah, but only the strongest. The others don’t deserve it. I was lucky that you allowed me to come here, but you shouldn’t allow just anyone. At least not at first. They should fight each other. See which, in the end, is stronger. The Brotherhood or the X-Men.”

“Who do you want to fight who?”

“Wolverine and Sabertooth. Storm and Mystique. Spyke and Quicksilver. Nightcrawler and Avalanche. Shadowcat and Blob...”

“And what about Toad?”

“Jean and Rogue.”

“That seems...harsh. Still upset with him?”

“It has nothing to do with that. He’s the weakest, so he should have to prove himself the hardest. If he can win against Jean, then so be it. If he can’t, he fights Rogue.”

“Very well. The fights will take place tomorrow. I expect we’ll have several guests by tomorrow evening.”

“Do I need to do anything?”

“Yes. I need you to come with me to pick someone up.”

“Who?”

“Scott Summers and his brother.”

***

“Alex, I’m still not sure about this. What do you even know about this Magneto guy? I’ve got a bad feeling about all this...” the boy with the movie star shades stood in the hanger of Asteroid M.

“Come on, Bro. This is going to be great. He’s going to fix us both. Make us stronger and better. Remember, we’re in this together. We’ve been apart for years, we need to do this together,” the blond surfer that she’d seen on the beach smiled and hugged his older brother.

“You should trust your brother, Cyclops. Magneto is a great man. He only wants what is best for us. After all, look what he did for me,” she smiled brightly and raised her arms up as she walked towards them, “I don’t need this anymore,” she held up the image inducer for a moment before dropping it to the floor and stepping on it, “Isn’t it amazing, Cyclops?”

The avian looked like a new person. Everything about her had changed, “Lili? Is that you?”

“Of course it is. If he can do this for me, he can fix your eyes. You’ll have complete control over your powers. He’ll even make you stronger,” she smiled as she walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug, “I’ve missed you, Cyclops. I’ve missed everyone, but they’re all coming here. We’re all going to become stronger and better.”

“Woah, Bro, who’s the cutie?” the blond flirted a little bit.

“My name’s Lili. You must be Alex. Magneto told me a little about you. You’re a mutant too,” she smiled again, “I go to school with your brother. Thank you for calling me cute. It’s not something I get to hear often.”

She really had changed. All six of her wings were fully grown. The bottom two sets were wrapped around her waist, while the top pair sat on her back like wings should. All six were heavy with bright white feathers. There was a little red staining at the tips of them all from where they’d busted through her skin during the original treatment. She’d yet to use them to fly, but she knew she would soon.

The rest of her body had changed as well. Everything seemed to fill out. If it wasn’t for her wings and the color of her hair, she would have looked like any other teenage girl. She was no longer a bag of bones. She had hips, a chest, a waist; everything people thought girls her age should have, “I’m pretty like Jean now, aren’t I?” it was hard to tell if she was teasing or being mean.

“Lili, did Magneto really do this to you?”

She nodded and walked across the room to a large, round door, “With this. It’s called the Cauldron. It’s a genetic enhancer. It takes the x-gene in our bodies and forces it to complete it’s mutation. It stops the pain we feel from the growing mutation. It makes it all better. It’s a little uncomfortable, but that’s a small price to pay for this,” she motioned to herself, “I was the first to go through it and you’ll be the next.”

“This is awesome. I’ve got superpowers, I’ve got my brother back, and now I’m going to be super powerful,” the blond boy smiled and clapped his older brother on the back, “We should be some kind of team. This is going to be so cool.”

“Lili, I thought you went home to see your parents. How did you end up here?” Scott seemed overly curious in the small details.

She shook her head a little, “That’s what I thought. My dad wanted to take me to a doctor who was going to cut off my wings. He wanted to ‘fix’ me,” she said with disdain, “Magneto rescued me,” which wasn’t the exact course of events, but it was what she now believed to be true. Magneto was her savior, “He’s a wonderful man. This is going to be the best thing for all of us. You’ll see.”

***

Lili kept an eye on the two boys for a while before Magneto came in to take over. Alex was ready to take his walk through the chamber, but he refused to do it without his brother. Scott, on the other hand, was not so convinced. He kept asking questions. So many questions. He even asked the same ones with different wording, as if that would change the answer. Lili didn’t understand what the problem was. Was she so resistant to the process?

Her temples throbbed as she thought about it and she pressed her hands to the sides of her head till it stopped. This seemed to happen a lot and Magneto told her that it was just a side effect and it would pass eventually. A few minor headaches were worth it, that’s what she told herself. It was worth it all in the end.

Shaking her head clear, she walked over to one of the monitors in the observation room and clicked it on. The image on the screen wasn’t the best. Obstructed by a lot of trees and bushes, but she knew the location. It was the institute. A quiet spot in the trees near an old well that they all liked to hang around sometimes. Logan liked to hide traps in the well during training sessions.

She smiled a little as she watched the scene till a familiar redhead showed up. Lili wasn’t sure what it was about Jean that bothered her. The girl was just perfect. It felt as if no one thought she could do anything wrong. She had perfect grades, she was the perfect soccer player, she was the perfect mutant, and the ways the boys drooled over the redhead made Lili a little sick. She wouldn’t deny being jealous, but she was sure that there were a slew of other girls that felt the same way.

From behind the camera, Toad leapt out and she frowned more seeing the hopping boy. The last time she’d seen Toad was their last little date together before she got brought here. It had been at least three or more days since she even thought about the guy. Seeing him now just made her upset. Lili wasn’t sure who she wanted to win the fight. If Toad won, then he’d be coming here and she wasn’t so sure she wanted him here. But if Jean won, then she’d come here and be the perfectly evolved mutant. She decided, as the two started to fight, that she wanted Jean to win. She’d rather have the perfect girl around than to deal with Toad anymore.

The fight was over quickly. Toad was blown outside of the range of the camera and she smirked as she heard him moan in pain from somewhere in the bushes. Jean flung her hair over her shoulder and reached down to pick up her purse when metal tentacles shot out from around the camera to grab her. The girl screamed for help, but was yanked in the direction of the camera.

The screen went black and Lili turned the monitor off, “Looks like Miss. Perfect made it...”

***

When she got back down to the hanger, she was surprised to see the Professor there. He was arguing with Magneto about something. Lili decided she didn’t really care what they were fighting about. It didn’t concern her. What did concern her was that the Professor seemed upset about the enhancement chamber.

“Professor, it’s a good thing,” she said softly as she walked up behind his wheelchair, “It really is. It’s the best thing for mutants like me. This is a safe place for us. No one can hurt us here. There is a dark future for our kind and we must be prepared for it, Professor.”

The bald man turned to look at her and didn’t seem phased by her new appearance, “Lili, you know full well that we must introduce ourselves as friends to humankind.”

“You know that’s not true, Professor...”

“The gathering is almost complete,” Magneto cut off their conversation, “Only Sabertooth and Wolverine left to go,” Lili wondered who all had won their way onto the asteroid. She had a feeling that Rogue had easily beaten Toad, which was fine by her.

“What happens to those who do not come willingly, Magnus?”

“Sometimes, if necessary, salvation must be forced,” a long row of glass tubes lit up showing Rogue, Jean, and Storm locked inside. They were all standing with their eyes closed and not moving, “And for every non-believer, there is at least one who does...”

The winners of the trials stepped out of the shadows. Pietro, Lance, and Fred were the ones who were not trapped in the tubes. Along with them were Scott and Alex. Lili walked over and took her place among them, “This is the future, Charles. We will stand united against those who oppose us.”

“And who is it that you think is opposing you, Magnus? Our own people? Is that why you pit them against each other? Sending teenagers to fight your battles for you. Making them hate and even want to kill each other. What sort of future is this breeding?”

“A strong one,” Lili nodded in agreement of Magneto.

“See the future, Charles,” he motioned to the chamber and Sabertooth walked towards it, “See what it holds for our people,” the already beast like man climbed inside and the door slammed shut behind him. Moments later, he emerged. Lili hardly thought it possible, but the man was taller and bulkier than he was before. His body was completely covered in dirty, brown fur. His lower jaw protruded and sharp fangs stuck out. He roared loudly and she winced at the sound.

“This is madness, Magneto!” the Professor shouted, “You cannot force evolution. This is wrong. Scott, Lili you both know this!”

With a wave of his hand, Magneto sent the wheelchair bound man onto a platform and was sealed into one of the glass tubes, “Hey! You said we were here to listen!” Scott yelled and she saw him reach for his glasses. The familiar red light started to come out, but Magneto stopped him.

“Do that and he’ll not survive the decompression.”

“Chances for you aren’t that good either,” the teenage boy threatened the Omega mutant, but his brother rushed forward to stop him. He told his brother to stop and calm down. Explaining that Magneto was just wanting to help them.

“I’m not your enemy. You’ll see that soon, Scott. So will Charles. I want to help you.”

“What exactly does the chamber do?” again, Scott was filled with questions. Lili didn’t understand why he was fighting this so much. It was a good thing.

“The gems used to power the chamber emit a unique radiation...”

“Wait, you want to nuke us?!” Alex pipped up.

Magneto grabbed the boy’s shoulders, “No more pain, Alex. I want to evolve you. I want to finish your mutation. No more aching in your bones...and no more hiding behind visors,” he glanced over at Scott, “You will have complete control.”

“What about them?” he pointed to the captured X-Men, “I want them released.”

“They will be, after you’ve completed your transformation in the chamber. They will see what it has done for you, your brother, and Lili. They will not be able to ignore it...but I will not force you to go through it,” for some reason, him saying that made her stomach uneasy. She wasn’t sure why, but it made her head hurt too, “Now, it is time to reach your full potential. Like others have done before you,” he motioned to Lili and Sabertooth.

Alex commented that he wanted to do it, but not without his brother at his side. The two smiled at each other and started for the chamber. Magneto woke up the captured mutations and before anything else could happen, Scott turned to run at the sound of Jean screaming, but the door slammed shut on them.

Lili wasn’t sure why, but the whole thing made her feel sick to her stomach.

Moments later, the door reopened and the two stepped out. Gone were the young looking teenage brothers. Instead they looked at least ten years older. Their hair was white as snow. Both looked as if they had been weight training for weeks on end, “The pain’s gone...” Alex said, flexing his hands.

Magneto commanded that Alex would now be called Havok and ordered Scott to remove his glasses. The others in the room flinched as he started to do so, fearful that they would all be blasted to pieces. Instead of the bright red beam that usually destroyed everything in it’s path, they got to see his eyes for the first time. They were a beautiful chocolate brown color, but they seemed hardened and cold. Almost dead looking, “Another benefit to your enhancement. Your minds, their purge of useless emotion. This should give you a clear view of our dominant roles here on Earth.”

Before anything else could be said, an alarm sounded and Sabertooth stated that there was an aircraft approaching. The hanger door opened and Magneto raised his hands, but nothing happened. He then ordered the two brothers to defend them. As the craft approached, the two of them used their abilities to shoot it down. It came crashing into the hanger and Jean managed to get them out of the way, but only to be covered by debris.

Out of the crash came all of the mutants who had lost their battles. Including Toad. Lili clenched her fists as she eyed him. For the life of her, she couldn’t remember what he’d done to make her so angry with him. All she knew was that she wanted to hurt him, “Mystique, you couldn’t take no for an answer?” Magneto seemed to be taunting the blue woman.

“No one rejects me!” she yelled before charging at him. Wolverine growled and jumped at the glass tubes that were holding the others and released them. Magneto’s men rushed the others and Lili took off after Toad.

“Hey, Babe. Miss me?” he smirked, “You look good,” he seemed relaxed. Growling lowly, she charged him and he jumped out of the way, “Angry isn’t a good look for you. You still upset with me? Let’s go somewhere private and I’ll cheer you up.”

She was angry, but she didn’t know why, “Shut up!” she snapped and ran at him again. He didn’t move so quickly this time and she tackled him to the ground. Lili managed to get one good punch in before he spit in her face. The green goo covered her eyes and she screamed loudly. The glass tubes that once held the others shattered. Had the others not been busy fighting their own battles, they likely would have stopped to see what was going on. Toad, being so close to her, covered his ears and kicked his feet up into her chest.

The hit sent her flying into a nearby wall, “The hell is wrong with you!” he shouted at her as she clawed at the hardening mucus that covered her face, “Crazy bitch!”

She managed to pry off enough so she could see. By the time she got up, he had a weapon in his hands. A steel rod. It didn’t phase her though, “I’ll kill you,” she snapped before charging him again. He swung the rod and hit her in the chest. A week ago, a hit like that would have shattered several ribs, but now it barely did anything to her except make her lose her breath for a moment. She wrapped her hands tightly around the rod and flipped him over onto his back. She balled up her fists together and slammed them down into his chest.

In response, his tongue shot out and wrapped tightly around her neck. The rest of the battle was lost on her. She was focused completely on fighting him. Her head started throbbing as she continued to pound into his chest till her vision started going fuzzy. It didn’t occur to her that she should be trying to get his tongue off of her neck. Her lungs cried for air and she even ignored the fact that when she tried to scream to bust his ear drums that nothing happened.

The smell of sulfur hit her nose and she heard a familiar German accent behind her, “I’m sorry, Lili...” something hit her hard in the back of the head. She fell limply against Toad’s body and the slimy tongue slid away.

“The hell did he do to her?” it was Toad’s voice close to her ear.

“Don’t know, but we have to get out of here. This place is about to blow. Come on!” Kurt’s voice started to fade as she felt her body being lifted.

She saw Magneto flying into the enhancement chamber, screaming for someone to get out of it. Her mind felt strangely clear and the headache stopped as she was carried through the corridors of Asteroid M. They passed by several rooms and she reached out for a door, “Morph...” but they ran past it and she felt the headache come back with force. There was a ringing in her ears and the sound of glass shattering moments later before she blacked out.


	13. Chapter 13

The days after Asteroid M were difficult for everyone. Things were tense and the mansion had a tense feeling to it as they glanced the destruction caused by the fight between Storm and Mystique. The place was trashed and in need of major repairs. That meant bringing in outside contractors and all of them having to hide their mutations. It also meant dodging questions by the workers. The handful of X-Men did a lot of the clean up work themselves to help out, but things weren’t good.

Both she and Scott were in the infirmary for a while. Scott got out before she did. His body had de-evolved due to a massive power surge on the asteroid that she was blackout for. The Professor couldn’t fully explain it, but he said it had something to do with the chamber itself only causing a temporary evolution rather than a permanent one. He was back to his normal self with little assistance.

Lili, however, was laid up for quite a while. She laid in the medical bed for nearly two months. She complained that she felt fine, but the Professor insisted she stay there for the extended period of time. She thought about arguing against it, but felt bad for everything that had happened and so listened to him. He mentioned something about mental and emotional trauma, but she ignored that for the time being.

She felt like an idiot for falling for Magneto’s bit about creating a better future for mutants. The man had only been in it for himself and his sick ideals. She knew now that he’d lied about making her better and stronger. He’d only used her as a lab rat and was likely willing to ditch her the minute something went wrong. She spent most of her time in the infirmary beating herself up over the whole situation.

The Professor questioned her about her time on the asteroid, but for the most part, she didn’t remember much of it. She remembered waking up there after the fight with her father. She also remembered the first treatment process, which had hurt greatly. She also remember being forced into the second treatment within the chamber. After that, it was mostly a blur. Kurt told her that she had nearly beaten Toad senseless even while he was choking her to try and get her to stop. Lili didn’t remember doing that, but she had a feeling it was true. Why would someone make up a lie like that? It did seem possible that she had attacked the boy.

“Professor, why can’t I remember what happened after I went through the chamber? Scott says he remembers,” she sat up in the medical bed as he came in to check on her.

He wheeled himself to her bedside and checked a few things on the monitors that were attached to her, “I’m not exactly sure, Lili. I believe the chamber altered your mind. The effect was only temporary. I believe your memories will come back on their own time.”

“I kind of figured that when I looked in the mirror the other day,” Scott told her that on the Asteroid she had looked much different. Kurt said she was hot. All of that was past tense though. The mirror showed her that she was back to looking the way she had most of her life. Nothing but skin and bones, “Only the things that changed when I went through the chamber went away. My wings are still the same and so are my nails,” she raised her hands up to show him the claw like nails she now had, “I tried to cut them, but they seem to be too hard or thick.”

He reached out and took hold of one of her hands to examine the nails, “Filing might work,” she nodded, “I have this for you,” he set a small box on the edge of the bed. It was a new image inducer necklace, “School starts tomorrow for you, if you’re feeling up for it.”

“Definitely. It’s been so boring in here. Is everyone upset with me?”

“Not at all. They understand that you weren’t in control of yourself. After seeing that the gems weren’t enough to gain control of people’s mind directly, Magneto built the chamber to do that for him. For some reason, this counteracted the gems abilities. Dialing it down. To be fair, they have no real reason to be upset with you. The only person you attacked was Toad. Magneto said the chamber purges emotion, but I think it really amplified them one at a time. For some reason, seeing Toad set you off, even though you were completely calm and collected before,” she had a feeling that he knew all about the fact that the two of them used to sneak off together, “Now, if you’re going to go back to school, you’re going to need to take extra precautions. Your wings are larger. It’s going to be easier for accidents to happen.”

Lili nodded, “I understand. No turning my back to people. Sit in the back of classes. No gym. No fights. No letting people slap me on the back. Nothing like that,” she smiled lightly, “I really just want to get out of this room. I miss seeing everyone.”

“Jean has a soccer game tonight. First of the year. Do you think you’ll be up for going?”

“I’m not sure. I’ll try. If not, I’ll just come back here and sleep. I miss my bed.”

***

School felt weird. She felt like everyone was looking at her. It didn’t help that by the time she got out of the infirmary room that it felt like there were a hundred new people at the institute. The Professor had spared no time in rounding up as many young mutants as he could find to come here and train their powers and learn.

They, apparently, didn’t have to go to Bayville High just yet; she noticed this as she was walking out to Scott’s car and saw them all playing around the mansion grounds. Just outside the doors was four of them. A blond girl with too much blush on her cheeks was standing a bit away from a group of two girls and a boy with spiky red and bright blond hair. She watched as the blond girl cupped her hand to her mouth and blew into it. A small, glowing yellow ball appeared. Barely the size of a penny. She smirked to Lili as she flicked it across the ground into the small group of three. It exploded and the blond girl started laughing hysterically. The other three didn’t seem as happy about it. She thought it best to get out of the way before she was dragged into it.

She climbed into the back of the car with Kurt and Kitty. They both gave her a small smile, but she couldn’t help feeling like they were resenting her for being against them on the asteroid. Scott was forgiven because he was doing it for his brother. Lili was sure they were going to hold it against her. Apparently Magneto’s silvertongue was lost on them or they weren’t accepting that as justification for her actions. Or maybe they were scared of her now. She’d snapped, apparently, and they were likely wondering when or if she would again.

“How are you feeling, Lili?” Jean finally spoke to break the silence as they drove.

“I’m okay. I was okay five weeks ago...” she shrugged a little, “So, with Mystique gone, who is going to be running the school?”

“I’m sure they found someone by now. They’ve had all summer and the first two weeks of school. I’m pretty sure they hired someone new instead of promoting the vice,” the redhead replied.

“I bet he loved not getting the promotion,” Kitty giggled, “That has to suck.”

“I don’t think Mystique is gone. Two pods shot out of the asteroid before we took off. It was probably Magneto and Mystique,” Kurt commented as they pulled into the school parking lot, “We have a school meeting in the gym first thing. I bet it’s to talk about the new principale.”

Lili hated that she missed the first two weeks of school, but there was nothing that could be done about it. She’d pretty much been on lockdown since the whole incident on Asteroid M. First to recover and then the rest of the time was spent with daily visits by the Professor and Storm to talk about it. They were usually short conversations since she didn’t remember hardly anything at all.

She followed the group into the gym, but they all split off on their own once inside. Kurt and Spyke went about making paper airplanes and goofing off in one direction. Kitty found some of her friends and was giggling away. Jean found Duncan, which seemed to upset Scott as he sulked near his friends. She saw Rogue sitting with some purple haired girl she’d never seen before. Across the gym, slouching against the wall, was the Brotherhood. The four mutant boys didn’t looked pleased to be there. With Mystique gone, she wondered how long they would actually stick around.

Eyeing Toad, she took a deep breath and across the gym. The bleachers were too dangerous for her. Too many people sitting too close together. It would be easy for someone to feel her hidden wings, “Good god, what happened to you?” she heard Pietro’s voice as she walked by them, “You looked good before, but now you’re back to being nothing but bones.”

Lili swung her school bag at him, but he dodged it and hit Blob instead, “None of your business,” she hissed at them as she walked towards the back of the bleachers and sat on the floor. It was less noisy back there anyway. She didn’t care who the new principal was or what the others had to say. She was two weeks behind on school work and she could use this little rally as time to work on late homework.

“Why you lookin’ so down? Upset that I beat you in a fight?” Toad’s voice made her cringe and she just huffed and ignored him, “Come on, Babe, talk to me. Why don’t we just slip under the bleachers and make up?”

Growling in frustration, Lili slammed her textbook shut and looked up at him, “You didn’t beat me. Kurt knocked me out,” though he probably would have made her blackout eventually. Kurt said that he had his tongue around her throat and was trying to strangle her to get her to stop punching him, “Go away. I never want to talk to you again. Unless we’re in a fight, I don’t even want to see you. With Darkholme gone, you’ll be kicked out of school in no time.”

“Well...we’re fightin’ now, ain’t we?” he was technically right.

“You know what I meant. It was your fault that I ended up in all of that mess. Now go away,” she hissed and swung her fist at his legs, but he jumped out of the way.

“My fault?! How was it my fault you went all psycho?” he actually sounded offended.

She climbed to her feet and shoved him away, “Magneto told you to be nice to me. You only talked to me because you were getting information for him. You probably only invited me to your place because he was supposed to have me grabbed there. When I refused, you went and told him, didn’t you? So he went to my parents and lied to them. Because of you, I’ll probably never see my parents again. Because you gave him the information to kidnap me. Because of you giving him that information, there’s a good chance a friend of mine is dead. And don’t give me any crap about just doing what you were told. You have a brain, Toad. Try to use it once in awhile.”

A cold hand wrapped around her wrist as she tried to walk away and he pulled her back. One good tug and he had her under the bleachers, “Hey, I didn’t know what he was gonna to do you. He just told me to talk to you and be friends with you. How was I supposed to know he was gonna kidnap you?”

“Don’t pretend like you didn’t know. Do you know what that machine did to me? Because I don’t. I only know what people told me I did. He made me a mindless zombie. He was going to do that to every last one of us. I was his lab rat and it’s your fault. I wouldn’t be the least bit upset if I never saw you again in my life. Now let me go, or so help me, I’ll scream so loud every window in this school will break. Imagine what that will do to your ears,” she even took in a deep breath to show how serious she was.

His fingers released their grip and she turned her back to him to walk off, “I meant it when I told you that I liked you well enough. We don’t get the chances that people like Kitty or Pietro get. If you ever calm down, let me know...”

She huffed in response, muttering, “Go to hell...” then wandered off to find somewhere private to study till the end of the gym rally.

***

“Hey, Lili, you walking or riding?” Scott called out to her from his car, “Jean has a soccer game tonight.”

“I’ve got some stuff to catch up on. I’ll meet you all at the game,” she smiled and waved to them as they drove off. Her smile faded as she saw Lance climbing into his jeep with the rest of the Brotherhood boys. They all looked oddly happy. They were laughing about something. It gave her a bad feeling in her stomach whenever they were all happy like that. Nothing good ever came from those guys being so cheerful. Lili knew they were up to something, but she really doubted there was anything she could do about it.

The Professor had told her to focus on school for now. Not to worry about other people. So she shook her head and started off towards the library. Whatever those guys did was no concern of hers. If they got out of hand, then it would be taken care of at that time.

She forgot all about it as she settled into the library and started doing her make up work. She could have done it back at the institute, but the Professor mentioned everyone having to share rooms since the new recruits showed up. It was hard to study without other people around, it was impossible with them around. Lili had a feeling she’d be spending more time after school in the emptied library.

She was sitting silently reading through her chemistry book when she heard the door open and close a moment later, “Hey, Babe.”

She frowned and wrinkled her nose, “Go away, Toad. I thought I made it pretty clear I don’t want you around me,” her eyes glanced up and she saw out the window that it was starting to get dark. The game rally would be starting soon, “Actually, you can stay, I have to go,” she started packing her books up when he stepped in front of her line of sight. He was wearing his fighting uniform, “What are you doing in that?” all of the X-Men carried their uniforms with them at all times in case of special situations, “I’m not going to fight you right now.”

“Good. Then go home.”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” she snipped.

“Lili, you should go home. I mean it. I don’t want you gettin’ hurt...”

She looked at him questioningly, “What do you mean? Toad, what are you guys going to do?”

“No more hidin’,” she knew what he meant, “At the rally. We’re gonna do it. We’re gonna show everyone those special talents the new principal was talkin’ about,” he was dressed in uniform because he knew that the X-Men would be there. This was going to be a fight when it was all said and done, “So go home.”

Standing a little straighter, Lili walked over to him and locked her eyes to his, “I told you before. Don’t tell me what to do. You jerks aren’t going to get away with doing this. We’ll stop it.”

“Sorry to hear that,” it wasn’t Toad speaking this time. She turned around, but only in time to see a blur of white hair and seafoam green fabric. She raised her arms up as Quicksilver ran circles around her, “You idiot, I told you she wouldn’t listen. She’s a X-Geek like Kitty and the others. Told the same thing to Avalanche, but at least he listened to me.”

“Pietro! Stop it!” she shouted from inside the whirlwind, but he didn’t, “I’ll scream!”

“Came prepared for that,” he laughed and she felt hands push her from behind. Before she hit the floor, she realized she was wrapped in a long rope. She started to struggle, but he’d tied it tight and fast.

“This won’t stop me from screaming,” she inhaled deeply.

“Thought of that too,” he smirked and before she could exhale, he covered her mouth with a piece of duct tape, “Duct Tape, fixes everything. Even mouthy girls. Come on, Toad, we gotta get going.”

She squirmed on the floor as they talked, “We can’t leave her here,” at least Toad was saying something decent for once.

“You’re right. We’ll bring her with. She deserves to see this too,” the white haired boy flashed her a smile, “But she’s your problem, so you get to carry her.”

Toad snorted before hopping over to where she was laying and hefted her up over his shoulder. Kicking and flailing wouldn’t do any good. He’d probably let her fall to the ground and she’d break something. At least they were taking her with and not shoving her in a closet somewhere, “I tried to warn you,” he said lightly, “You should have listened to me and went home. Lance wanted to do the same to Kitty, but Pietro talked him out of it.”

All she could do was grunt. He was acting like he was some kind of hero. Saving the damsel in distress while, meanwhile, he was the one causing all of the destruction. It was like the dragon sparing the knight, while still torching the village. She growled as her only response to him.

“Don’t be like that, Babe. I meant it when I said that I didn’t know Magneto was going to snatch you like that,” part of her doubted it would have made a difference if he knew or not. She had a feeling he would have let it happen anyway, “Tomorrow, everyone will know all about us. It’ll be good,” she didn’t feel the same way. Lili knew that people weren’t ready to accept that mutants were out there. The Brotherhood was going to ruin their lives.

She could hear people cheering and shouting. Lili craned her head as much as she could and saw the soccer field and bleachers. She saw Avalanche and Blob already standing behind a news van. Of course the media would be here. It was a silly high school soccer game, perfect chance to announce that there were super humans around. This was going to end horribly, “What’s she doing here?” Avalanche sneered a little.

“Toad didn’t take my advice. Had to keep her from running to her little buddies,” Quicksilver shrugged, “Come on, let’s get this party started.”

The other three guys started to climb their way atop the van and Toad set her down behind it, propping her up against the side of the vehicle, “I’ll let you go once it’s over...” he leaned in to try to kiss her cheek, but she jerked her head away, “Don’t be like that...” he actually sounded sad as he leaned in to kiss her again and hit his mark this time.

She watched him hop off and started to squirm and squeal behind the tape. She wiggled herself to fall over onto her chest. It was pointless to try and make it to wherever the others were sitting, but she knew if she could get free in time, she might be able to help. Her wings strained against the ropes as she squirmed. The one thing she was thankful for rom Magneto was the use of her wings. It was likely that they would have never healed on their own or if they did, it would have taken many years. Now she had full use of all six of them.

The smaller center wings managed to get themselves poked through the ropes. It was strange to know that they had gotten free, but not be able to see them. They were strong and Logan had, surprisingly, prepared them for situations like this. He said it was best to flex and squirm a lot. It would help loosen the ropes. They all had to be tied up and try to escape. It was hard, but they had all managed to do it. Only Kitty and Kurt had the easiest time doing it.

It took a little time, but she managed to get all six of her wings loose. The ropes went slack around her body and she was able to wiggle them off. By the time she got to her feet, she heard screaming. Avalanche was talking about making the field goals further apart and the ground started to shake violently. She stumbled a bit as she came around the van in time to see all hell break loose.

People were scrambling to get off the bleachers as Blob started shredding them to pieces, “And you know what? We think that mascot stinks!” Avalanche yelled “Tear it down, Blob!” the large boy yelled as he grabbed hold of the gold, flaming hawk statue and started to tear it down from the pedestal it was on. Rogue rushed him and Avalanche jumped down from the van. Cyclops tackled the walking richter scale.

Jean was busy saving Principal Kelly from Quicksilver. Kitty and Rogue were taking care of Blob. Spyke was taking care of the TV cameras that were recording the action. She spotted Road grabbing someone’s forgotten purse, but he was taken down by Kurt. She ran over to help the blue boy take care of the mutant frog.

Kurt’s teleported and ended up with his back to the frog boy. Toad’s tongue shot out and she grabbed it, “Oh no you don’t,” she growled as she yanked on the slimy appendage hard.

“Über Zeit!” the blue boy yelled at her as she wrapped her arm around the guy’s tongue to hold it tight.

“English, Nightcrawler!” she snapped.

“I said ‘about time’!” he smirked as he cracked Toad over the head to knock him out.

She huffed as she let her grip go relaxed as Toad’s red eyes rolled back and closed, “I was a little busy...What the hell happened?”

“Avalanche got a little high and mighty...” but the blue boy didn’t get to finish as someone screamed out behind them.

“Kitty!” they both turned so see Avalanche running across the field, knocking Cyclops out of the way. Not far from him, Blob was passed out from Rogue’s attack and dropped the statue. Kitty didn’t see it falling above her.

Kurt was ready to teleport to save her when the leader of the Brotherhood shoved her out of the way. The statue fell on top of him and Kitty screamed out his name, “Lance!” she immediately ran towards the flaming pile of metal and phased through enough to drag him out.

Lightning cracked through the sky and they all looked up to see Storm bringing ran to put out the various fires. Kurt went to see if Kitty was alright, leaving her with Toad. She knelt down and turned him over onto his back. The boy groaned and cracked his eyes open, “...hey, babe...”

She rolled her eyes and smacked him, “Go back to sleep,” she growled as he passed back out, “...idiot...” Lili brushed a little bit of hair out of his face before standing back up and walking over to the Professor.

“It’s too many people, Charles. You cannot wipe all of their minds,” Storm was trying to argue with the man. He wanted to keep their secret a secret. All of the tapes and phones had been destroyed, but that wouldn’t make people forget. He could do that.

“I have to try,” the man closed his eyes and got to work. Everything went silent and people stopped moving as if they suddenly lost all ability to move on their own. Things only started moving again when the Professor groaned in pain and blacked out. They all went to work to quickly get all of the Brotherhood and X-Men off the field and out of sight.

***

Back at the institute, the Professor was moved to the infirmary and everyone started to settle down. Kitty looked shaken, “You okay?” she sat down next to the girl on the couch.

“Yeah. I guess. I can’t believe Lance did that. He’s such a jerk!” she punched a pillow

“I can’t either. He was ready to out us all. He did out us all.”

“That’s not what I mean...” the other girl pulled her legs up and hugged her knees, “...he could have gotten really hurt...” Lili looked down at her feet. Kitty wasn’t upset about the outing. She was upset that Lance had pushed her out of the way and got himself hurt, “I could have phased through it. He didn’t have to do that...why’d he do that...?”

Lili shrugged a little, “I don’t know. I guess he really likes you. Maybe you should call him tomorrow?”

“Yeah...I think I’ll do that...”

“Don’t we have a girls ask the guys dance coming up?” Kitty nodded, “You could ask him to that. Kind of make it up to him. Pay for his ticket and stuff.”

The other girl smiled, “That’s a good idea. I’ll think about it...cause after all, he did nearly get us all killed.”

“But that happens everyday anyway,” Lili reminded her.

“You’re right!” the other giggled a little.


	14. Chapter 14

After the soccer game incident, which ended up being blamed on gas lines and the flaming mascot statue, things were even more tense between the Brotherhood and the X-Men. They all knew that the boys were willing to risk everything at this point. This meant that any fights with them were put at a higher risk for them deciding to take things public.

But for the most part, that didn’t happen. Surprisingly, the boys didn’t make a peep. They kept to themselves and everything seemed to go back to normal. Yet they were still on edge waiting for it to happen again. The Professor said that something must have set Avalanche off to make him want to do that, but whatever that was seemed to pass. Any time it was mentioned, Kitty became quiet and sheepish.

Everything went back to normal, but about two weeks after the incident, Lili noticed other girls giggling when she came around. It was unsettling. She was used to people making comments about her weight every now and then, but for the most part, people weren’t that interested in talking about her. There were plenty of more interesting things to talk about. Yet she seemed to be the hot topic right now. Even the other girls at the mansion would get quiet when she walked in the room.

She put up with it and ignored it for a day or two, but it was getting annoying, “Kitty, what’s going on?” she finally questioned the other girl. While Kitty hadn’t been one of the ones she commonly had an issue with, she had seen Kitty look at her with an expression of shock and giggle now and then, “Why is everyone acting weird?”

“Uh, well...” she was hesitating.

“Come on. Spill it. If people are talking about me, I wanna know why. Would you like it if people were doing that to you?” the avian sat across the lunch table from the other girl, “What’s this all about?”

Kitty leaned across the table and said in a hushed voice, “...we just can’t believe you, or anyone, would do something like that...”

“Like what? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“...you know...making out with Toad, of all people...”

Lili’s eyes went wide and she stood up quickly, shaking the table as she did, “What?!”

“So it’s not true? I told Lance it wasn’t true.”

“Of course it’s not!” she felt furious, “Why would he say that? Why would anyone say that?”

“Lance says Toad told him about it. About how you two sneak off between classes to make out in the forest...and other stuff.”

“Other stuff?!” she felt her heart pounding in her ears as she grabbed her bag off the table and stumbled to get from behind the bench seat.

“Lili, where’re you going? We have sixth period in like two minutes.”

“I’m going to squash a toad!” she shouted as she stormed off, leaving Kitty behind.

She didn’t know where the creep was. She checked his usual spots, but he wasn’t at any of them. Who she did manage to find was Pietro and Blob in the gym, “Hey, were is Toad?” she demanded.

“Oh, looking for some twenty-five foot tongue action before sixth, huh?” Pietro snorted a laugh, but Blob didn’t seem to get it, “You know, if the way you looked on the asteroid is any indication of your future, you can definitely do better than him. I’d even give ya a go. Just once though, I get bored easily...but only once the knockers have filled out. Not into the whole ‘is it a boy or a girl’ look.”

Lili rolled her eyes. She’d start a fight with him if she didn’t have other things to take care of right now. Toad was the only reason he was saying those things anyway, “Screw you, Pietro.”

“I thought that was the point,” he winked.

“Where’s Toad?!” she snapped, “Just tell me!”

“I saw him going towards the forest a few minutes ago,” at least Blob was easy to convince answers from sometimes.

“Right to the love nest,” Pietro snickered as she rolled her eyes again and stormed off from them. She heard kissing noises behind her and laughter.

Blob was right. After about ten minutes of walking, she found the fly eating jerk in the spot they used to meet and talk. She didn’t know what she wanted to do more. Scream at him, smack him, punch him, kick him, or just glare at him in silence. He looked like he was sleeping on the ground.

She chose to start with screaming, “What the hell is wrong with you?!” she then chose to kick him in the leg.

“Ow! Hey, watch it. I’m sleepin’ here,” he groaned.

“Not anymore! Get up!” she kicked him again.

Toad groaned again and cracked his eyes open to look at her, “Hey, Babe,” he sat up slowly and smiled at her.

“Don’t ‘babe’ me, you jerk,” she snapped, “You know I hate it when you call me that. Why are you telling people that we make out together?” he perked an eyebrow before looking down into his lap and shrugged, “Is that all you have to say? Just going to shrug it off? We kissed. Once. For less than a minute. That’s not making out. You have to everyone that you lied,” she ordered, “You have to tell them now.”

“You know, I figured if I told people stuff like that, then you’d come talk to me...we could make it not a lie, if you’d like,” he teased, “You were willing to do it a few months ago.”

“That was before I found out that you were telling personal details about me to some creep who kidnapped me and before you had Pietro tie me up while you tried to out my friends. Oh, and before you decided to tell everyone that we come here to make out while doing ‘other stuff’ too. I don’t even want to know what ‘other stuff’ includes. You have to tell everyone you lied. Right now,” Lili didn’t know why, but she felt like crying.

Toad shifted to sit in a crouch, “Why should I? What? You don’t want people to think you’d kiss someone like me? Feelin’ all high and mighty since you know you’re gonna be one of the pretty ones in a few years? Bet you’re feelin’ pretty great since you found out that all you have to do is hold out a few more years and you’ll be perfect. I guess it’s easy to turn into a prude when you know you’ll be able to get anyone you want later on.”

Everything he said was a fairly big shock, “...what? I...I wasn’t thinking about that at all. That’s not what this is about. I haven’t thought about that at all. I barely even remember any thing that happened up there. The only things I know are the things people keep telling me about it. This doesn’t even have anything to do with that,” why did people keep telling her about what she looked like on Asteroid M. She didn’t care about that right now. All she cared about it was finding out what happened to Morph, who she only had vague memory of, and figuring out why Toad was telling people the things he was, “I don’t want people to think I do those kinds of things with anybody.”

He got up quick and grabbed her shoulders. Before she could pull away, he smashed his lips against hers. The kiss was intense. He held her with a strong grip and kissed as hard as he could. She stood motionless for a moment, out of shock. For a moment, she actually relaxed and let him kiss her. Her arms twitched a little, wanting to move up and wrap around his neck. Had everything that happened not happened, they probably would have been spending a lot of time like this. It reminded her of the dreams she used to have about him and the first time they actually did kiss, but she quickly regained her senses.

Everything had happened and she refused to forget about it. Toad wasn’t getting off that easily.

Lili pushed her hands into his chest, “What’s wrong with you?!” she snapped.

“You kissed back...”

“You surprised me, Toad. I just...I want you to leave me alone. Okay? I have a lot in my head right now and I don’t need you making it harder for me. When I’m ready to talk to you, I will...” she leaned over and kissed his cheek, “...but for now, leave me alone.”

“...I do like you...” he mumbled as he shoved his hands into his pockets.

“Only well enough, right?” to which he nodded, “Sleeping with the enemy is better than sleeping alone,” and he nodded again, “I’ll let you know when I’m ready to talk.”

“You still want me to tell everyone I lied?”

“...No. It wouldn’t do any good anyway. You know how people are. They’d all just think that I forced you to say you lied. It’ll blow over,” she smiled lightly.

As if he’d heard nothing she said, he reached over and slid his hands over her hips, “So...think I can get a kiss goodnight?” he smirked as he rubbed his fingers over her hip bones.

“Not a chance,” she smiled and pushed him away, “You haven’t brushed your teeth in a while. I can tell,” she said with a wrinkle of her nose. His hands slipped away as he nodded a bit, “I’ll see you around school.”

***

Kitty questioned her about the whole thing when she got back to the institute. The other girl wanted to know everything that happened, “It was nothing, Kitty. I told you, he lied about it. I don’t know why he did, but he did. You’d think he’d pick someone better looking than me to make stories up about.”

That was the last she would say on the subject as she closed her room door on Kitty. The other girl could easily get inside, but she seemed happy enough with the answers she got.

“You gotta thing for that guy,” the voice made her spin around. It was one of the new recruits. A blond girl that wore too much blush named Tabitha. The girl was nuts. She’d been sharing a room with Jubilee last week, “The one you were talking to Kitty about. You like him a lot.”

“Boom Boom, what are you doing in here?”

“We’re roomies now!” the blond jumped off the edge of the bed to hug her, “It’s gonna be great!”

Lili just stared at the blond. She was sure this had to be some kind of punishment for something. This is what she got for skipping sixth period, “Yeah...just great. Listen, I need to get some sleep, I’ve got a big test tomorrow. Mind if I kill the lights?”

“Sure! Go for it! I’m going out anyway. See you at school!” the girl laughed loudly as she headed out of the room. Before she got completely out, a small, yellowish orb came rolling across the floor and bumped into the night stand where the main light was. Lili ran for it, but the little bomb went off and ‘killed’ the light from the lamp.

“...they want to kill me...” she muttered, “I need a new lamp...”

Lili crawled into her bed after cleaning up the wreckage of the desk and lamp. It was easy to doze off. She was tired from the mild stress of the day. Toad had been the cause of most of it and he was at the forefront of her mind. Her sleepy mind didn’t want to think about how upset she was with him. It just wanted to think about them kissing. Lili was sure her brain was conspiring against her most of the time. It was a little different this time. Most of her previous dreams about the little creep were rather pleasant.

Instead of their little hideout under the bleachers or in the forest, they were somewhere else. It was a small room. The walls were metal and there were no windows. It felt familiar and somehow comfortable, despite the clinical look.

_Toad was sitting on the floor. He looked upset and depressed. Normally, he was the one to take control of the situation, but she didn’t wait for him to do anything. She walked over and slid into his lap. Her legs settled on either side of his body and her hands landed on the side of his face as she cupped it._

_It was different. He didn’t lean in to kiss her. No, he tugged a bit and tried to pull away from her, but she held fast. Her mouth clasped over his as she kissed him deeply. His hands pushed against her shoulders as he tried to get her off, but she kissed him harder. Her tongue delved into his mouth for a moment before she finally broke to take a breath._

_“Kree, Darling, don’t do this...”_

_But she ignored his plea. Her mouth wrapped around his and her fingers dug into the sides of his head. Her nails bit into his skin as she kissed him harder. She inhaled deeply and moaned into his mouth. He kicked and squirmed under her. She could feel him screaming into her own mouth as his body started to vibrate a little._

“Hey! Wake up! Lili! Wake up!” hands were gripping her shoulders and shaking her, “Lili, come on, stop screaming. You’re gonna break every window in the mansion! Lili! Professor! She won’t stop!”

The voices started to become clear as the ringing in her ears stopped, “What’s going on...?” she groaned. Her throat hurt. It felt like she’d been screaming for hours. Her eyes opened slowly and she saw at least a dozen people standing around her bed. It was all of the new recruits, Boom Boom was still holding her shoulders, the older X-Men, Wolverine, and the Professor. They all looked concerned and a few of them were holding their ears, “Did I do something wrong?”

“Lili, I think we should talk,” the Professor said softly as he started to wheel himself out of the room without another word.

She nodded and quickly started climbing out of the bed. The others scattered and scrambled to get out of her way as she followed after the bald man, “Professor, did...did I do something? I’m really sorry if I did something wrong,” she didn’t understand what was going on.

“You woke everyone in the mansion. You’ve been screaming for nearly an hour,” he said lightly, “I’m sure you didn’t do anything wrong, Lili, but you obviously have something worrying you. Are you having nightmares lately?”

“N-no. Not really. I mean, I have weird dreams, but not really scary or anything. Just weird,” at least she felt so.

He lead her down to the study room and motioned for her to sit across from him, “Tell me about them. About the one tonight.”

Lili didn’t want to say that she’d been dreaming about kissing Toad. Though tonight was the first one like that which involved Toad, “I’m usually in a small room. A metal one. Kind of like the rooms on the Asteroid M base.”

“Perhaps they are not dreams then. You say you do not remember the things that happened after Magneto put you through the chamber. Have you been trying to remember?” to which she nodded, “Most times, our minds block memories from us for a reason. It could be a side effect of the chamber or it could be your mind trying to keep you safe till you are strong enough to handle it. Which do you think it is, Lili?”

Hugging herself, she shrugged, “I don’t know...but I would like to know what happened to me. Everyone keeps telling me about how I looked and how I went nuts, but I don’t remember.”

“Tell me more about the dream you had tonight.”

She didn’t want to, but she would, “It’s embarrassing, but I was in one of those rooms. Toad was there, but I don’t think it was really him.”

“Why not?”

“Because, he called me ‘Kree’ and ‘Darling’. He’d never call me those things,” as far as she knew, she hadn’t told anyone about the name Kree or who it had come from. Toad always called her ‘babe’, nothing else. He never even called her ‘Harpy’ or by her real name.

“Who would call you those things, Lili?”

“Morph. He was on Asteroid M with me. He was the reason I went through with the first treatment. He’s a shapeshifter like Mystique, but different. His body is made of unstable molecules. He’s like Play-Doh,” she tried not to smile thinking about him, “He was really nice to me. He always called me ‘Darling’ and he came up with the name ‘Kree’. He said that Harpy didn’t suit me and kree sounded like the noise I made when I screamed.”

“I don’t recall seeing anyone other than our X-Men and the Brotherhood on M. Nor do I recall sensing any other mutants there.”

Lili hugged her arms tightly, “...He got upset with Magneto. He didn’t want me to be forced into the chamber and I wanted to go home. Magneto told me that if I didn’t go through with it, then he’d have to ‘do something he didn’t want to’ with Morph.”

“And you don’t remember this Morph at all after that?” her only response was to shake her head, “I see. Do you think that it is Morph you’ve been having these dreams about?”

“I know it is, Professor.”

“What else happens in the dreams?”

“Usually, he tells me not to do this and I wake up after that...but tonight it went further. I, uh, I kissed him,” she blushed, “It looked like Toad, but I know it was Morph. I kiss him and he...he struggled...” it was a little depressing that she was dreaming about forcing herself on a guy, “...he started screaming and his body felt weird...I don’t really know what was going on.”

The Professor sat silently for much longer than she was comfortable with. He seemed to be thinking hard about this, “I prefer for memories to reveal themselves to people. Our minds block things from us for a reason sometimes. It is normally best for our minds to let us know when we’re ready to handle it,” he stopped again for a moment, “But, given that it would be difficult and costly to replace every window in the mansion any time you have these dreams, I think it would be best if we open these memories up now. That is, if you want to.”

Lili didn’t like the thought of other people being in her head. It always creeped her out that there were mutants that could do things like that. This was important though. He was right, replacing the windows wouldn’t help anything. There was also a chance that Morph left Asteroid M before it was destroyed. If that was the case, then she wanted to find him and make sure he was alright, “I want to, Professor. I want to know what happened to Morph.”

The man nodded and moved his chair to sit directly in front of her, “Just relax and close your eyes,” she did as he told her to and tried to keep her breathing steady as her eyes slipped shut. She felt his hands on the sides of her head. Lili had seen the Professor do this to people before. It made her nervous to think that he was going to be poking around in her memories. It wasn’t like she had an interesting life, but there were still things she wanted kept private.

Toad came to mind as she thought about the things she wanted private. She thought about how he’d asked her out and pestered her till she agreed to it. Even though they only kissed twice, they’d been somewhat affectionate during their dates leading up to her trip to M. Or rather, Toad was the affectionate one. She thought about how he was always trying to touch her in some way. How he would always brush his fingertips against her arms or rub his bent knee against her leg when they sat together. Even their two kisses came to mind.

“Lili, I need you to clear your thoughts.”

Her face warmed as she realized that all of those things she wanted to keep private were the things she was putting right up front for him to see, “Sorry, Professor.”

“It’s alright. If you have to think of something, think of Asteroid M,” Lili nodded and tried to think about the asteroid.

_“Kree, he lied to you. Just like Toad did. He doesn’t care for you or our cause. He didn’t want you to have the second treatment. He was only being kind to you because he wanted something from you. Just like Toad. They were just following orders. Never thinking about you or your best interest. Neither of them deserve to be here. Least of all Morph,” Magneto whispered this all into her ear, “He’s a danger to our cause.”_

_Lili nodded lightly, “I understand.”_

_“Good. Go take care of it.”_

_She headed off down the metal walled hallways till she came to a locked door. It was Morph’s bedroom. She keyed in the lock code and pushed the door open. He was laying out on his bed as if everything were normal, “Kree, is that you?” he looked at her with shock as she walked inside and closed the door behind her, “You look...”_

_“Better?” she smiled and stood at the edge of the bed, “I look nice now, don’t I? Pretty?”_

_“I thought you looked fine before, Kree,” he sat up against the headboard with a worried look on his face, “I think the most important thing is, how do you feel?”_

_“Oh, I feel wonderful, Morph. I’ve never felt like this before. I’m strong now. Powerful. Fully evolved. Aren’t you happy for me?” she smiled at him._

_“Of course I am, Darling.”_

_“And I’ve decided on something.”_

_“What’s that?_ ”

_Lili smiled again and climbed onto the bed with him. Instead of laying next to him like she usually did, she swung one of her legs over his body and sat on his hips. Her hands slid over his shoulders as she leaned down and touched her lips to his earlobe, “I’m going to stay here.”_

_“Kree, that’s...that’s...” he shivered a little as her lips started kissing down his neck._

_“Shhhh...don’t talk. I’m talking right now and I wasn’t finished,” sitting up, she gripped her hands on his shoulders, “I’m going to stay here, Morph...but I can’t be here if I don’t trust the people that are around me. Toad won’t be coming here. I’m going to make sure of it...and you...You’re going to be leaving. You can talk now.”_

_“What are you talking about, Kree? You’re not making any sense. I’ve been nothing but honest with you.”_

_Her nails dug into his shoulders as she sat up straighter, “Don’t lie to me, Morph. I don’t like being lied to. You only pretended to be my friend. I’m thankful that you did it, but I can’t forgive that you did. I won’t forgive you. Not ever.”_

_“I promise, I haven’t lied to you. I swear it, Kree. Why would I lie to you about anything?” he started to raise his hands up, but she dug her nails in harder and even felt his skin pop a little as he winced._

_“You did lie to me. Just like Toad did. You pretended to be nice to me to get what you wanted. You made me think that you actually liked me. You made me laugh and you held me and you told me that everything was going to be alright. You didn’t care about me at all, did you? You were just doing what you were told,” her brow furrowed as she felt herself getting angry, “I’m upset with Magneto for telling you to do it, but I’m more angry with you. You could have just told me the truth.”_

_“Kree, I swear, that’s not what it was. I do like you. You’re strong and you’re smart...”_

_Lili didn’t give him a chance to finish. She cut him off, “Liar! Magneto told me the truth. You were only thinking about yourself. He told me that he promised you money to do it!”_

_“That’s not true. He’s the one...”_

_“Stop it!” she shouted and put her hands up to ears, “I won’t listen to lies anymore!”_

_Leaning down quickly, she grabbed his shoulders again and crushed her mouth against his. She broke the kiss for only a second to breath, “Kree, Darling, don’t do this...”_

_But she ignored his plea. Her mouth wrapped around his and her fingers dug into the sides of his head. Her nails bit into his skin as she kissed him harder. She inhaled deeply and moaned into his mouth. He kicked and squirmed under her. She could feel him screaming into her own mouth as his body started to vibrate a little._

“Professor, I don’t want to do this anymore,” she cried out, tears running down her face as she yanked away from the older man and huddled up in the corner of the couch. She covered her head with her arms and tried to stop the shaking she felt.

“Lili, are you alright?”

She shook her head hard, “No...I...I killed him. I killed Morph. He’s dead. I know he is...” breathing started getting hard to do. All she wanted to do was cry as hard as she could.

“Lili, I need you to stay calm. It wasn’t your fault.”

“But I’m the one that did it! How is that not my fault?!” she knew she shouldn’t be yelling. The others would hear her, but she couldn’t seem to care about that right now.

The man reached out to touch her arm and she flinched, “Lili, the chamber altered your mind. Magneto knew after the first treatment that you weren’t going to listen to him. So he used the chamber to do it during the second treatment. You weren’t in control of your actions. None of it was your fault.”

“But I did do it, Professor!” it didn’t matter if someone told her to do it or not. She was the one that did it, “I killed him! I killed my friend!”

“Lili...”

“I killed him...” she sobbed loudly and curled up into a shaking ball on the couch, “I killed him...”


	15. Chapter 15

“I can’t believe I asked him to the dance. I can’t believe he said yes. It’s going to be amazing,” Kitty was practically dancing down the hallway at school, “He’s so sweet sometimes.”

“Yeah, when he’s not trying to bury us under a pile of rocks,” Lili said with a small smile.

“Oh come on, he hasn’t done that in...three months. And that little quake after I asked him out doesn’t count,” she was even more peppy and perky than usual. It was a little annoying.

“Have you asked anybody yet? I heard that Amanda asked Kurt and he said yes.”

“Me? No. I’m not going. I like music, but the crowds make it hard,” she felt like the uber freak since coming back to school. Not only did she have a medical leave for two weeks at the beginning of the year, but not even a month after that, she had taken another extended leave. It was only last week that she came back and hoped that it would be for good this time. People were looking at her like they were wondering if she had some kind of disease. Though it felt like a good thing too. Someone asked her if the medical leaves were because of her weight and she easily lied and said that it was. No one giggled about her weight anymore. Now she was just the school pity case. Lili hadn’t decided which she preferred yet. Freak or pity.

Kitty didn’t seem to accept that answer, “Come on, Lil. You gotta get out and have some fun. Since summer, it’s been nothing but hell. We need to relax and have some fun. You don’t even have to go with anybody, you can just go by yourself.”

“Oh, cause that’s real fun,” she rolled her eyes.

“You can come with me and Lance.”

“I’m not being the third wheel.”

“You won’t be. Schools over for the day and we don’t have training tonight. We should go to the mall and get you a dress and some shoes,” Kitty seemed dead set on this.

Lili groaned, “Fine. But it has to be a full length dress. I can’t have my legs showing,” try as she might, she was a teenage girl that was a little shy about her appearances. Lili avoided makeup and generally wore the same thing everyday, but she was aware of what she looked like. She would rather spare people the site of her legs. No one would want to see that, “And sleeves. Mid to long sleeves...” she started rattling off her requirements as Kitty dragged her along.

“Jesus, Lil, you’re not Rogue,” the other girl joked, “You look nice in short sleeves. Let’s see...You have white hair and you’re pale as a ghost, but you have dark green eyes...” Lili felt like she was being inspected as Kitty managed to get her into a department store and standing in front of one of those three way mirrors, “You’re definitely a winter.”

“I don’t know what that means, Kitty. Can’t we just pick a dress and go?”

“No way! You have to pick the right dress that matches your seasonal color palette.”

“Well, how do you know I’m a winter?” Lili didn’t like this and felt like arguing as much as possible.

“Your hair is white, so we’ll just consider that a white blond. Like Pietro,” as much as she hated to be compared to the speedy jerk, Kitty was right, “You also got this bluish skin tone. Very icy pale. So you’re a winter. Summers are a cool color like winters, but visualize a clear crisp winter's day. The sky is an intense bright blue. Colors are clean and sharp. These are winter colors. That’s what you are. Summer cool colors are more hazy and mute.”

It was kind of interesting to hear. She didn’t think so much thought had to go into clothing. If it fit, then wear it. That’s what she usually went by, “So what colors can I wear?”

“Winters should wear intense colors. Black and white put together look great on a winter. But I think we should pick a jewel color. What’s your favorite color out of these? Red, blue, or green?”

“Uh...green, then red...I guess.”

“Emerald green. Yes. That would look great and it matches your eyes. Oh, and a bright red lipstick. You got pretty eyes already, so we should just put some shimmer on them,” Kitty was getting all excited about this.

Lili was starting to feel like a toy doll, “Maybe we could just stay focused on the dress and not worry about makeup.”

“Okay...oh, I got an idea. How about, instead of a dress, a nice mid-thigh length tunic top?”

“Mid-thigh? Isn’t that a bit short?” she would rather die than walk around like that.

“Not at all. You wear leggings with it. We’ll get you some black leggings to put under it and some nice ballet flats for shoes. I think I saw the perfect top. Hold on...” she rushed off.

Lili sighed and turned to look at herself in the mirror. This all felt weird to her. She didn’t like the idea of trying clothes on or going to a dance. She hadn’t liked the thought of it before and she certainly didn’t like it now. Things had been difficult lately, but maybe Kitty was right. Maybe she just needed to go out and have some fun like a normal kid.

“Here it is!” the perky mutant held up a bright green tunic top. Shiny, black beads studded around the neck as an embellishment. It had very feminine ruffled sleeves and a tie at the waist to pull it back. She’d need the tie to keep it from looking overly baggy, “Try this on. I’ll go get some leggings and flats,” she threw the shirt at Lili and rushed off again.

Shaking her head, she stripped her shirt off and pulled the tunic on. She tied it behind her back and looked at the mirror again. Kitty was right, it was a nice shirt and she did like the color, “See, it looks great. Put these on. It’s the smallest size they had,” she was handed the leggings. The were silky feeling and around the ankle were little, shiny, black buttons. Useless buttons that didn’t do anything, but were for decoration, “You try those on. I’m going to go pick out a dress for myself.”

Lili tried everything on and looked herself over in the three way mirror. The outfit probably looked great on someone like Kitty or Jean, but it looked decent enough on herself. She pulled her hair back to see if it would look better up or down. She decided down was for the best. As for makeup, she wondered if she could convince Kitty that she didn’t need any or rather didn’t want any.

“Oh, Lil, you look great!” she turned and smiled a little at Kitty, “You sure there is no one you want to ask?”

“I’m sure...but thank you, Kitty. This is really nice.”

“Don’t mention it. We’re friends. What do you think of this?” she held up a cute two piece dress.

“Lance will love it,” Lili was sure the guy would love the semi-exposed midriff she’d be flashing and the bare shoulders it would offer.

“He better...and if he’s a good boy, we might get lost for a little bit on the way home,” she giggled.

***

Everyone was excited for the dance. For a lot of the new recruits, it was the first school function they would be going to at Bayville and for a few of them, it would be the first time they’d been to a school function at all. Many of them were going with each other, but a few were going with non-mutants from the high school. All of them had dates, except for herself. Rogue was going with that girl Risty, so it wasn’t really a date, but it was more than she had. Lili, surprisingly, didn’t feel upset about it.

Her plan was to go, be seen, and then sneak off to the library to do some of that homework she needed to catch up on. There was no way she was going to repeat her grade just for missing a few months.

She rode to the dance with Risty and Rogue. They seemed to be the only pair that didn’t plan on ‘getting lost’ after the dance. Risty was nice. She’d transferred from England. Something about her family moving here for work. She and Rogue got along together great. It was nice to see Rogue making friends. It gave her hope that she might be able to make friends too.

“So, Lili, got a guy waiting for you at the dance?”

“No. Nothing like that,” she smiled to the purple haired girl, “Going solo.”

“Nothing wrong with that. So are we,” the English girl smiled.

At least she wouldn’t be the only lingering person around. It was just a matter of getting herself seen and then slipping out. It should be easy enough, she figured.

The dance was loud, just as she was expecting. It wasn’t just music noise though. It was the sound of dozens of teenagers laughing, giggling, talking, cheering, and singing. It made her cringe, but she quickly made her way across the dance floor and settled down on the bleachers behind the drink table. Everyone would see her here. Ten minutes. That’s all she had to stay for. She mostly wanted Kitty to see her. The other girl had put a lot of work into getting her all dressed up, so she wanted Kitty to see her having ‘fun’.

She sat quietly, waving or nodding to people as they walked over for drinks. It wasn’t bad and at least it was loud enough to keep her head from wandering to things she didn’t want to think about. At least it was till she saw a small group of people she thought wouldn’t show up. It was Boom Boom, dressed like some kind of walking Madonna tribute. On one side was Blob, dressed in a brown suit and looking uncomfortable with the whole situation. On the other side was Toad. She held back a giggle as she looked at him. He was wearing the most god awful suit. It was powder blue, of all colors. His shirt was an off yellow and he completed it off with a maroon colored bow tie. It was utterly adorable. Pietro came in soon after them with two girls on each arm. It made her roll her eyes.

She had only meant to stay for ten minutes, but that quickly turned into an hour. She just watched everyone. It was kind of nice. Kind of fun too. She didn’t dance, but she sat and every so often, someone would come over to talk to her.

She got up to get something to drink just as Toad did the same. The poor guy looked like he was about to fall over dead. Boom Boom was making the two Brotherhood boys dance till they dropped, it seemed, “...hi,” it was simple and small, but it was all she could think of to say.

“Hey, Babe,” he greeted her as he usually did.

“Boom Boom running you two dry?”

“That girl is gonna kill us before the night is over,” he sounded serious, “She doesn’t know how to stop.”

Lili chuckled and shook her head, “You should have known she would do something like that.”

“I did...but...” he shrugged, “Thought it would be fun to come. You just been sittin’ over here?”

She nodded, “Yeah. I don’t dance. Kitty thought I should come. I’m thinking about leaving though.”

“Guess I’ll see you around then,” he didn’t seem too excited to go back to Boom Boom at the moment.

Lili bit her lip for a moment before reaching across the table and grabbing his sleeve, “Hey, uh, do you...wanna dance?”

“You sure you want people to see us together?”

“We could...go under the bleachers. No one would bother us there,” she didn’t really care if they danced, but she knew people would tease them if they were seen dancing together.

Toad shrugged, “Sure,” then he smiled a little. They made their way separately under the bleachers, checking to make sure no one noticed them as the slipped away. It wasn’t nearly as loud under there and it was a bit darker. It was nice and unless any happy couples wanted some privacy, they’d be alone for awhile, “I’m not a very good dancer.”

“Me either,” she smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck loosely, “So we’ll cancel each other out.”

“Sounds good to me,” his hands rested on her hips, “You wanna talk or just dance?”

Moving closer to him, she laid her head on his shoulder, “A little of both,” she heard him swallow hard and felt his head nod. He smiled kind of nice, “You showered,” he had a nice scent after showering. She knew he didn’t use soap often, so he never had any flowery or soapy scents on him. He just smelled clean.

“Yeah...I brushed my teeth too.”

“It’s kind of hard to tell that,” she smiled and closed her eyes.

Toad chuckled a little, “I could show you.”

Smirking, she pulled her head back and looked at him, “And how are you going to do that?”

His fingers tightened a little on her hips and he smiled, “Like this...” he started to lean in to kiss her, but she pulled her head back, “What’s wrong?”

“That’s not talking or dancing.”

“Lance said that Kitty told him if he was a ‘good boy’ tonight, then they might get lost tonight. Think we could do something like that? I behave and you give me a kiss?”

It sounded well thought out and Toad looked sincere about it, “Sure. That’s reasonable.”

“That means you have to stay the whole dance.”

“I think I’m okay with that,” she teased as she laid her head back on his shoulder.

Nothing was ever that easy though. They stayed under the bleachers for about three songs till they were chased off by some of those happy couples wanting privacy. Lili went back to sitting on the bleachers and Toad was carted off by Boom Boom again. The guy acted like he hated the attention the blond mutant was giving him, but Lili knew he liked it. Blob liked it too. Despite the way she acted, Boom Boom was a good person. She treated everyone the same way.

Things were going fine until some weird, red monster showed up out of nowhere. It looked like some kind of dinosaur. Lili knew what it was. They’d all seen it on the monitor in the danger room a few days ago. Forge had made some kind of device that would slow Kurt down when he teleported to see what kind place the blue mutant travels through. They’d all seen the video and it showed these strange creatures on it. The second time Kurt used the machine, Wolverine went with him and they got into a bad fight with those things. Forge swore that they had no way of getting out of that dimension, but apparently they did.

Lili looked around to find Toad, but she didn’t see him anywhere. Nor did she see Blob or Boom Boom. Everyone was screaming and running around as the monster tried to attack them. They all managed to use their powers without being caught to avoid the beast. She saw Kurt disappear and a few of the others rush off into the hallway. Kurt had jumped here twice. Once to the gym and once to the basement. If one got out, more probably did too.

Lili took off after them. The small group ran through the halls and met up with Forge, “Kurt’s portals didn’t close. I can fix it,” the time locked teenage genius was carrying a weird looking device, “We already got the one in the gym. We need to find the other one.”

They found the last of the beasts outside the girls bathroom. Blob was sitting on it and Toad kicked it in the head as Boom Boom laughed. They saw Forge coming and Toad pointed at the device, “Hey, I’ve seen that thing before.”

“This is a new one with some special modifications. It sends these bad boys back where they came from. Watch out,” he aimed the device at the red monster and the Brotherhood boys and Boom Boom stood out of the way as a ray of light shot out and the creature disappeared, “That should be the last of them. All the portals should be closed up now.”

“Well, that was a fun dance,” Spyke snorted as they all started to head off.

“Principal is going to have to fix that hole in the floor...” Scott mentioned.

“I’ll have it taken care of,” the Professor spent a lot of money on the high school since they all started coming here.

Lili followed the group as they headed out. A few of them mentioned going out to eat. She saw Boom Boom, Blob, and Toad heading off on their own. She bit her lip in thought for a moment, “Hey, I’m gonna stick around here for a bit. I need to grab a few books from the library for all that late work I need to do.”

The Professor gave her a small glance before nodding lightly, “Of course. Just be back by curfew.”

“I will. I promise,” she waved to them as she jogged off. She glanced over her shoulder to see them all climbing into their cars and heading off. Lili changed course and hid behind a tree near the two Brotherhood boys and the blond mutant girl. She picked up a small rock and tossed it.

It hit the small mutant boy between the shoulders, “What the...” he turned around and saw her poking out from behind the tree. She waved for him to come over and then pointed towards the soccer field, “I, uh, got somethin’ to take care of. See ya later,” he didn’t give his friends a chance to respond as he hopped off in her direction. She took off towards the field as soon as she saw that he was coming. She was to the first set of bleachers when he caught up, “So, wanted to be alone?” he teased.

Her response was to grab him by the front of his powder blue suit and pull him under the bleachers. Once out of sight, she pressed her lips against his. Her arms moved up to wrap around his neck as she kissed him hard. He stiffened, likely out of shock, for a moment before relaxing and setting his hands on her waist. They kissed like this for a bit till they both needed air. He was the first to speak, “Was that my reward for behaving? Or taking down that monster?”

“Both. Cause I’m so sure that you took that thing down all by yourself,” she teased him.

“Damn right. I’m just amazin’ like that.”

Lili giggled, “Oh yes, Boom Boom and Blob did nothing at all.”

“Not a damn thing. They ran like little girls,” he smiled, “See, I brushed my teeth.”

“I can tell,” she lightly stroked her fingers on the back of his neck.

“Do I get anything for that? For bein’ honest?”

“Maybe. What do you want for it?” Lili knew that she’d have to draw the line somewhere depending on his answer.

He took a minute to think. Far longer than she thought he should. It was a little worrisome what could be going through his head, “How about a little tongue? Or...” one of his hands pulled at the hem of her shirt, lifting it enough to wear he could rub his thumb on the bare skin underneath, “Both would be nice,” he watched her for a second as her face turned a little, “Come on. It’s not like I’m askin’ for you to spread your legs or nothin’. Just some tongue and a little touchin’. Please?”

It wasn’t his tongue she was worried about, though the fact that it was over twenty feet long and covered in some kind of goo was disconcerting. Some of them, after a fight with the Brotherhood, had mentioned a woozy feeling after being attacked by Toad’s goo or mucus. She’d felt it too if it got in her mouth. She wondered what prolonged exposure to it directly in her mouth and throat might do. What was more concerning to her was his hands. Strangely enough, she was more worried about feeling uncomfortable with where his hands might go than she was with the fact that his tongue goo could be toxic.

“It’s not like I’m gonna shove my whole tongue in there,” that would probably kill her if he did that, “I can control how fast and far out it goes.”

“Why don’t we just go back to kissing,” she watched him perk an eyebrow, “...with tongue...” she added in so he didn’t complain about it anymore, “...but we’ll see how that goes before we let hands start wandering. Okay?”

“Works for me. How about a change of location?” she gave him a questioning look, “Over here,” he pulled her further under the bleachers to a more cramped spot. She felt her wings brushing against the wooden slats and the metal poles around them, “No cameras here. Great spot for pickin’ pockets,” he pointed upwards and she saw that he could easily slip his hand up and steal a few wallets from whoever was sitting there.

“Toad, that’s terrible.”

“Hey, a guy has to get money to eat. Who the hell is gonna hire me for a job?” he had a point, “It’s a good spot for other things too. Like when you don’t want people to know who you’ve been foolin’ around with. It’s like a little sanctuary for love birds,” she wrinkled her nose at the thought of what some people did on the dirt underneath her shoes, “Don’t make that face. It’s not like we’re gonna do any of that stuff. Unless you wanna.”

“Kissing is fine.”

“For now?”

“We’ll see,” she smiled and slipped her arms back around his neck, “But for now...” she leaned in and kissed him softly.

He didn’t try to verbally respond. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed back. She wasn’t sure how to go about putting her tongue in his mouth. It felt a little awkward. She’d dreamed about it before, but it felt different actually doing it. Was she just supposed to open her mouth and stand there like a fish? That didn’t seem all that appealing. Toad seemed to know what to do or at least had a better idea than she did.

She felt the worm like muscle touch her lips and she cracked her mouth open enough for it to push inside. It didn’t taste like what she’d imagined it would. Lili wasn’t sure what a tongue was supposed to taste or feel like, but she had a feeling that Toad’s tongue wasn’t it. It felt cold. Where her own tongue was thick, but somewhat flat, his was round. Like perfectly round, but fleshy and soft. The tip of it seemed a little bulbed too.

The taste of it was sour. Not like food sour, but more like when she used nail polish remover and then accidentally touched her fingers to her lips and tasted the remover. It was awful. But the more he wiggled it around in her mouth, wrapping it around her own tongue, the more she got used to it.

Toad seemed to decide that it was time to move things on. His tongue pushed around her mouth and one of the hands on her waist moved around to her back and down her backside. Lili didn’t have much in the way of a filled out form, but all the parts were there. He cupped her backside and rubbed it lightly as he groaned into her mouth. She thought about stopping him, but he kissed her harder and slipped his other hand around her bottom. Her head felt a little bit fuzzy as she moved in closer to him.

He pushed it too far too quickly though. His hands moved up and under the hem of her shirt. She was going to ignore it if all he was going to do was run his hands over her back, but that’s not what he had in mind. Toad’s fingers found the hem of her leggings and he pushed his hands down into them, touching her bare backside. He pulled off the kiss and smirked, “You’re not wearing underwear.”

“Okay. We’re done,” she stated with a blush. She tugged herself free of his hold.

“Oh come on. I was just joking,” though he’d been telling the truth, “I was just gettin’ into it.”

“And that’s why we’re done,” she leaned up and kissed his cheek, “Why don’t we meet up tomorrow? Back at our usual spot?”

“Yeah. Sure...can I do one more thing?” he looked so hopeful.

“...okay,” Toad reached out and put his hand on her chest. She inhaled deeply and looked off to the side as he rubbed his fingers over her nearly non-existent breast, “Okay, we’re really done tonight,” she reached up and pulled his hand away. He didn’t try to resist, but he seemed pleased with himself and the touching, “Next time, tell me before you decide to do something like that. Alright?”

“Sure,” he smiled, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Lili leaned over and kissed him again before nodding and heading off from under the bleachers.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not safe for work material in this chapter. Just a forewarning.

Things were surprisingly great. There were no more random accidents or strange incidents at school. Things were calm and everyone was just enjoying themselves. Finals were coming up soon, but that was the only stress anyone had. Things were even great at the institute. The new recruits were all learning and getting stronger. It had been almost two weeks since any of them had blown something up.

There had been one incident with a mutant named Mesmero. He’d brainwashed Jean and Kurt into stealing some rings. Nothing ever happened with it though. They never found Mesmero or the rings. Even the information they found about the rings wasn’t all that useful. The Professor said it was best to not worry about the situation for now. They would deal with it if it came up again.

Other than that, they all just tried to relax. Beast helped with that by taking a bunch of the new recruits and a few of the older kids on a retreat to the forest. They came back laughing about some hunters thinking Beast was Bigfoot. Lili had asked to go, but she’d declined. Running around the woods and camping wasn’t her idea of fun. She was still very much an indoor person.

Truth of it was that she didn’t want to go because that meant breaking off dates with Toad. Jean stayed behind too and she had a feeling it was because she didn’t want leave Duncan (and Scott) behind. Kitty had wanted to stay behind too, but she got convinced into it. Beast didn’t want to try to handle the new recruits in the wild on his own and Kurt said if someone else didn’t go with, then he wouldn’t go.

It was spring break from school and they were allowed to do pretty much anything they wanted. Storm had convinced Logan that the kids deserved a break from training for the week, so they were out of that too. So long as they stayed out of trouble and were home by curfew, then they had no restrictions.

It was a nice day outside, but Lili wasn’t out enjoying it. She was climbing into the second story window of a house that was nearly rundown. The sign sitting at the end of the driveway stated ‘The Brotherhood of Bayville Boarding House’. She fell through the window and grunted as she hit the floor. It was a good thing that Boom Boom was apparently listening to her music at eardrum busting level, “Oh god...” she groaned as she climbed up to her feet. It wasn’t the first fall she’d taken through that window.

“You need to learn to fly, Babe.”

“Or you could get a room on the first floor. Or you could sneak into my room for a change,” she snipped at the mutant boy laying on the bed with a comic book, “I’m supposed to start going to the city once a month for flying lessons from Warren Worthington. I’ve only met him once, but he’s really nice.”

“I ain’t breakin’ into that place. You all got guns in the ground and shit. I ain’t riskin’ my ass for a kiss,” he stated as he tossed the comic book aside.

“You know, you’re just such a romantic,” Lili teased and climbed onto the bed with him, “You shower?” it didn’t seem like he had.

“Not with soap. You know I only do that once a month. I got in the water though,” Lili wrinkled her nose a bit. His lack of showering hadn’t stopped them yet, but she did like it a lot more when he did, “I brushed my teeth this time,” that was always a plus.

Lili made up her mind and crawled over him on the bed, “Okay. So long as you at least did that,” she smiled as his hands rubbed up her hips. Leaning down, she gave him a few peck kisses. One of his hands moved up to her neck and wrapped around the image inducer. He switched it off and wrapped both of his hands around her back to play with her wings. The six appendages shivered as he tickled along the base of each of them, “I like it when you do that,” she moaned softly.

“Let’s do somethin’ I like,” he said with a smirk as he pressed his mouth against hers. His tongue wasted no time in finding its way to her mouth. Lili wondered why he liked doing that so much. She had a feeling that his tongue was more sensitive than the average persons was. Whatever the reason, he liked probing her mouth with the slimy appendage. Lili knew what Toad liked, for the most part, when it came to kissing like this. At first it had been enough for him to just take control and shove his tongue in as far as he could before she started to gag, but he liked things a little different lately. He wanted her to suck on it while it was in her mouth.

The first time he asked her to do it, she gagged a lot. It wasn’t his tongue that made her gag. It was the slime on it that did. She’d made the mistake of wrapping her lips around it and pulling back. That landed her with a mouth full of the goo that her body decided she was not going to keep in her mouth. She’d learned better ways of doing it that kept that from happening. It was messy, but it could be done. Instead of pulling her head back from his tongue, she started at the tip and then pushed in towards him. It made the goo slide down the rest of his tongue and out of her mouth. Neither of them minded the clean up too much. Some still got stuck in her mouth and ended up being swallowed.

It was after their first couple of make out sessions that she realized that their tongue kissing could only last so long. Toad hadn’t realized it before in his life, but the goo on his tongue had an effect on people. It made them light headed and woozy. It had been trial and error to figure out what the limit was they could kiss before it made her feel that way. He didn’t like stopping, mostly because it only took about three minutes of kissing before she started to feel the effects of his tongue slime mutation.

She started to pull out of the kiss and he held her fast for a moment before releasing, “Come on. A little more.”

“Toad, you know we can’t. I’ll get sick, like last time,” he groaned in annoyance, “It’s not like I want to get sick from kissing you. You think I like getting light headed or throwing up?”

“Maybe you just don’t like kissin’ me...”

Lili sighed. They’d talked about this more than once. Pretty much every time they got together these sort of things got brought up, “You know that’s not it. I don’t want to fight about that again. Especially here,” the walls in the Brotherhood house weren’t very thick. If the others were here, they’d hear them if they started fighting, “You know I like kissing you. I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t like it,” she leaned down and pecked at his lips again.

“Why don’t we do somethin’ else?”

“Like what?” till now, all they ever did was kiss for a few minute and then sit and talk till the woozy feeling went away and then went back to kissing again, “You know we’re not going to have sex, so don’t even say that,” he asked for that more than a few times or at least joked about it or hinted at it.

He rolled his eyes and stroked his fingers on the bit of spine between her wings, making her shiver, “I wasn’t going to say sex. I know you ain’t gonna do that,” which was another fight they had from time to time, “I was gonna suggest you put somethin’ else in your mouth for me...”

It took her a moment to get what he was saying. He helped her figure it out by pushing his hips up and grinding them against her own, “...I don’t know...”

“Pietro says Boom Boom does it for him.”

“Yeah, but Pietro is a jerk and Boom Boom is nuts. I’m pretty sure there are very few things she wouldn’t do.”

“Can’t we at least try it? We’ve been goin’ out for over a year.”

“It hasn’t been that long, Toad.”

“On and off it has,” which was somewhat true. They’d even discussed starting to tell people about their relationship. He seemed more against it than she was, even though he’d been the one running around telling people about it before it had really happened, “If you don’t like doin’ it, you can stop. You suck on my tongue. It can’t be that different.”

He was right. She didn’t see how it would be much different. She knew he showered whenever he knew she was coming over, so it wasn’t like he would be unclean down there. Lili just didn’t think it was something she could do, “I just...” she slid off his hips and bit her lower lip a bit.

“Why don’t you just use your hand and if you’re okay with that, you can do a little more?”

That seemed reasonable, “I guess I could do that,” she had thought about how intimate with him she wanted to be. She liked Toad and they had become closer since the dance. She’d been upset when Toad had been telling people that they liked to sneak off between classes to make out, but at least now the rumors were true. She was sure some people suspected their relationship, but no one mentioned it. She’d even considered telling people, “Even on and off, we’ve been together longer than most we know,” which was true for the most part, “So I guess we could start doing more together.”

“Like sex?”

Lili shook her head, “Not sex. We’ll just start with doing other things first. Okay?”

“Works for me,” he said as his hands went for his pants. He, apparently, had no intentions on waiting to let her change her mind. She turned her head and blushed as he pulled his pants open. She heard him shuffling a bit as he worked himself free of his boxers, “You know, if you wanna touch it, you’re gonna have to look at it, Babe.”

“I know...I’ve just never seen one before.”

“Really? Never looked at a picture or anythin’?”

“Of course not. I’m not a pervert like you,” she giggled a little before turning her eyes back to him. It was hard not to look down between his legs. If it was possible, her whole body would have blushed. Lili knew what a guy looked like down there, at least the basics. They’d all taken health class, which involved sex education, but it was far different from the real thing. Though it might have only seemed that way because his was the same pond green color as the rest of his body. It didn’t seem natural, but she had to remind herself that none of them were exactly ‘natural’ when it came to their bodies. She wasn’t sure if the length or width was below average, average, or above average. It seemed large to her.

“I’m not a pervert. So, you gonna touch it?” he lifted his head enough to fold his arms behind it.

Lili took a deep breath before moving a little closer to his legs and reaching out to wrap her hand around the organ. It twitched in her hand and she blushed. He moaned very lightly and she looked up to see his eyes slide close. She watched his face as her hand started to move along his member. Lili didn’t want to look down at her hand or his cock. She just wanted to watch his reactions.

His face would twist in pleasure when she move her hand fast. It would furrow and he would groan when she slowed down. She could tell what he liked and didn’t like just by watching his face. He seemed to like it most when she gripped a bit tighter and moved her hand fast. While he still seemed to like it if she want slower and kept her hand loose, he didn’t like it quite as much, “...Wanda...” he groaned and she stopped her stroking for a moment, “Somethin’ wrong, Babe?”

“...no...my wrist is getting tired...” she smiled lightly and switched to her other hand. Lili didn’t find it surprising that he might think of other girls when they were together. In fact, she was sure he thought of other girls with the way he commented about how she wasn’t his type. This was the first time he’d ever said another girl’s name while they were together. Then again, he rarely ever said her actual name. The only time he came close was when they fought and he called her ‘Kree’. That was it. What upset her was that the name Wanda’ wasn’t familiar in the least.

Toad’s eyes rolled back again, “It won’t be much longer. Just keep doin’ that...” he groaned loudly, “We’re gonna have to do this more often...” his voice moaned out as his hips bucked up a little bit into her hand. Lili didn’t know what to say, so she just kept moving her hand along the thick organ.

He was right. It didn’t last much longer. He came in her hand and she wrinkled her nose as the warm goo coated the top of her hand and leaked down her fingers, “That was...gross...” she wrinkled her nose again as she looked around for something to clean her hand off on.

“What were you expectin’ to happen?” he had a big smile on his face. He seemed pleased with the situation. Perhaps it was good that one of them was happy about it. Lili wasn’t sure how she felt about it. It had been mildly enjoyable till she heard that other girls name.

“I don’t know. It’s just kind of gross,” it was sticky and slimy. Almost like the goo from his tongue. She reached over and grabbed one of his shirts from the floor to clean her hand off on, “This is actually a little...awkward,” she wasn’t sure what other words to use to describe it. Even though she’d resisted being more intimate for a while, she’d thought when they did go through something like this that they would feel happy about it. But she didn’t feel happy about it.

“Awkward? I thought it was pretty good,” he sat up and started to reach down to fix himself back into his pants.

“I guess it was...” she started to climb up from the bed, “You know, you promised me a week ago that we’d go on a real date soon. Out in public, around other people...” it was an exchange they’d made. He got to put his hand up her shirt and he promised to take her out.

“Yeah...uh...sure. How about tomorrow night? We’ll meet at our usual spot and then go into town,” he didn’t sound too excited about it.

Lili smiled, forgetting about whoever ‘Wanda’ might have been, “Okay,” she crawled over to him and kissed him lightly, “You don’t mind people seeing us together? Cause if you’re not ready for it, we can wait,” he was willing to hold off on sex for her, so she figured she could be willing to hold off going public with their relationship. She knew he’d only done it out of spite telling people about the whole making out thing.

“Yeah, it’s fine. We might as well, you know. We ain’t gettin’ with anyone else. People might as well know we’re together,” it wasn’t exactly romantic, but it wasn’t a lie, “Just meet me in the forest like we usually do at school. I’ll be there. I promise,” he leaned up and kissed her.

“Okay. I’ll see you then,” she was surprisingly happy. Thoughts of this ‘Wanda’ person were gone. All she thought about was the fact that things were going good between them. It didn’t matter that people would make fun of her when they found out. Most of the boys in school teased her a bit anyway and most of the girls just ignored her. She’d handled worse than some teasing, “Think I could get another kiss before I go?” she knew he didn’t like her staying late. Especially lately. For some reason he pushed for her to leave before it got dark.

He leaned up again and gave her a quick kiss, “See you tomorrow.”

She nodded before heading for the window. She made sure to turn her image inducer on before slipping out. Lili was careful to make sure no one saw her. She nearly fell out of the tree as she saw Pietro zoom by into the house. Lili realized she really did need to learn to use her wings.


	17. Chapter 17

Lili felt pretty good about things. School was over. Toad and herself had been ‘dating’ since February. Life at the institute was calm and relaxed. The Brotherhood hadn’t even acted up lately. Both she and Kitty were in fairly stable relationships with the Brotherhood boys. Granted, no one knew about her relationship with Toad, but she had a feeling that some suspected it. She knew there was no way Boom Boom didn’t know about it and hadn’t blabbed about it to somebody. Even if they did know, Lili wasn’t so sure it would bother her. She was actually looking forward to their first real date.

She knew that they weren’t supposed to meet till closer to nightfall, but she was sitting in their private grassy spot. While things were good at the institute, it was still loud and noisy. To her, it was calm and relaxed, but that usually meant explosions and a lot of yelling. A day when only one explosion went off and only one person got turned to ice was a good day.

She pulled a book from her bag and started to read as she waited for him. She wasn’t even to the third page when the book was ripped from her hands, “The hell...” she growled as she looked up. It was Toad. He was holding her book, which was now covered in a thin layer of slime, “You owe me a new book,” she said with a smile.

“Eh, no one needs that stuff,” he tossed it aside before hopping over and landing in front of her. He placed his hands on her knees and let them rub up her thighs, “Wanna fool around?” he smirked and cocked an eyebrow at her.

“I thought we were going on a date? A real one.”

“We are. I got movie tickets,” he fished them out of his back pocket to show to her, “But it ain’t for a little while.”

“Why so late?” she looked at the tickets, “You know I have curfew,” not that she hadn’t broken it for him before. The Professor was fairly relaxed about it with the older students like herself, but she knew not to push her luck for too long on that.

As she questioned, he climbed up and started kissing at her neck, “I won’t keep you out late anymore this month,” he promised as his hands rubbed at her thighs, “We got half an hour. You wanna do what we did yesterday?” he sounded rather excited about it.

He smelled clean. She knew he’d showered again and she knew he only did that for her. He hated showering and she knew it. Most times he just scrubbed and didn’t use soap, but she could tell he used soap this time. She was willing to let him go a few days, even if they were meeting up, between showers. It was surprising to notice that he’d showered yesterday and again today, “Maybe after the movie. We can go back to your room...” she felt one of his hands moving up and sliding under her shirt and she blushed, “People could walk by here...” not that anyone had in the time that they’d spent here, “Not sure either of us want anyone seeing either of us ‘exposed’...” his fingers were cold and she shivered as his hand slid up her chest.

“I like that you don’t have to wear a bra...” he muttered before kissing her neck again. Lili heard enough girls complaining about those things that she was kind of glad she didn’t have to either.

“Pietro says he can’t tell if I’m a girl or a boy,” which did upset her sometimes.

Toad chuckled, “I could tell him for you,” he teased as his other hand moved from her thigh to between her legs.

Her face felt warm as his cold fingers brushed against one of her breasts. There wasn’t much there to be felt. Lili was sure if there was such thing as a negative cup size, she had it, “I...uh...” she had trouble forming a thought for a moment. His fingers were distracting. It would be a lie if she said that her dreams about him hadn’t become more intimate recently. It used to just be kissing, but in her dreams now, she let him do a lot more. In her dreams, she let him do things not only with his hands anymore. Things that made her feel a little embarrassed when she woke up.

“Does that feel okay?” he asked into her neck as the hand between her legs rubbed a little harder. All she could do was swallow hard and nod a bit, “You wanna do more?” his hand dragged up to the button and zipper on her jeans and he started trying to work it open.

“We’re...we’re gonna be late for the movie,” she managed to get out.

Neither of his hands stopped, “I could get creative with my tongue...” she felt her jeans pop open and his fingers touch the sensitive skin around her pelvic area, “Isn’t this more fun than a movie?”

“Y-yeah,” she stammered. Lili did want him to keep going, but she was looking forward to actually having a date with him, “But we can do that after the movie, right?”

He sighed and both of his hands stopped. He sat back and nodded, “Yeah, sure. We’ll just go back to my room after the movie and pick up where we left off,” he smiled a little.

Lili didn’t want to admit it, but if there wasn’t the promise of a date or if they were already in his room, she wasn’t so sure she would have stopped him. She’d thought about going through with sex a few times. There were several times when they were kissing that things got heated and he’d ask for sex, many of those times she considered it. So far, she’d managed to remind herself that she wasn’t really ready for that, “We should get going,” she commented as she fixed her pants and started to stand up. Her knees wobbled a little bit and he snickered, “What?”

“Made ya all weak kneed, huh?” he teased.

“No,” she blushed and shoved him a little once he got up, “Come on, we’re gonna be late.”

The walk to the theater wasn’t too long and no one really bothered to look at them. They didn’t come across anyone they knew from school and no one caused any issues to them. She even reached over and slipped her hand into his. It felt nice to walk around in public like this. Like a real couple. She hoped that things would stay like this. If things worked for them and worked for Kitty and Lance, then maybe things between the X-Men and the Brotherhood wouldn’t be an issue anymore.

The movie was some kind of horror flick. She wasn’t too big on that sort of stuff, mostly because they spent a lot of their time dealing with strange things like that. They were settled into their seats for not even ten minutes after the movie started when he leaned over, “I’ll be right back. Gotta do somethin’,” he whispered and headed off. She figured he had to use the bathroom.

The movie was more than halfway over and she’d stopped paying attention about twenty minutes prior. Toad still hadn’t come back. She wondered if some guys from school saw him and tried to fight him. She knew Toad could handle himself, but sometimes Duncan brought his friends along.

She quietly left the theater and looked around the lobby. She didn’t see him anywhere, “Hey, uh,” she started as she walked towards the guy behind the counter, “Did you see a short guy, kind of lanky, yellow eyes, torn jeans? He would have come out almost an hour ago...”

“Uh, yeah, that creep. He left.”

“He...he left?”

“Yeah. Said he had something to take care of. I told him he can’t go back in the theater once he leaves without buying another ticket.”

Lili was having a hard time believing that Toad would just leave her here like that, but she knew it wasn’t a longshot. It was easily believable that he would run off and leave her by herself. She knew Toad well enough to know that in the end he only thought about himself. Lili wouldn’t give him what he wanted earlier, so he found a way to ditch her. That’s how he behaved. He didn’t like talking stuff out. It was either fight it out or he did things to spite her.

Sighing, she crossed her arms and headed out of the theater. She ignored the guy at the counter telling her about having to buy another ticket if she came back. Lili just wanted to go home. Her stomach felt tight and she felt a little sick. She felt stupid for thinking that Toad would actually go through with a date like a normal person. All he cared about was getting what he wanted. If she wouldn’t give it to him, then he’d just throw a fit like a child. All they ever did was what he wanted. The one time they were going to do what she wanted, he does this.

“...jerk...” she muttered as she headed towards the institute. It was times like this that she missed Morph and felt bad about what she’d done to him. Morph made her smile and she knew he’d cared about her. If it wasn’t for Magneto screwing with her head, she could have been spending her time with Morph. She didn’t understand why Toad couldn’t be like that. Why couldn’t he just be happy with her? He was the one who was always saying that they might as well be with each other, so why did he act like this? She just didn’t understand.

“Lili!” a car came skidding to a stop not far from her and she shielded her eyes from the headlights, “Lili! You gotta get to the mall!” it was Boom Boom. The crazy blond had been living with the Brotherhood for months now, but she never actually fought with them.

“What’s wrong at the mall? It closed half an hour ago,” she didn’t go to the mall often, but the other girls did.

“It’s the Brotherhood. Mystique is back and she’s got some weird girl with her. They’re gonna wreck the place!”

She didn’t wait for anymore information. She tossed her bag at Boom Boom and ordered the girl to go back to the mansion, or wherever she had been staying, before shooting off in the direction of the mall.

By the time she got there, she should hear blasts going off. A red beam shot out of the roof and she knew it was Cyclops. The fact that she wasn’t in uniform didn’t matter. She rushed to the door only to find it locked tight. She looked around fast and grabbed a rock. She threw it as hard as she could at the window and it shattered. She climbed inside and saw Cyclops on his knees covering his eyes. His visor was gone. She felt herself getting angry as she saw Toad hanging from the ceiling with Cyclops’ visor in his hand.

“Toad!” she snapped as she ran over to Cyclops. The mutant boy on the ceiling looked surprised to see her. He jumped down and kicked the visor towards Cyclops before taking off. She picked up the visor and helped the other boy put it back on, “Scott, what happened?”

“The Professor said the Brotherhood was here causing trouble,” he said as he started to stand back up and go after Toad.

“No. I’ll get him,” she didn’t give him a chance to respond as she took off down the pathway towards the back of the shopping center. She saw him hop into a store and she took the corner fast.

“What’re you doin’ here, Babe? You’re supposed to be at the movie.”

“So are you!” she snapped, “You leave me there so you can go fight my friends?! What’s wrong with you?!” she wanted to strangle him.

“It was for your own good!” he snapped back, “Go back to the movie. I’ll meet you when it’s over and we’ll go somewhere private.”

“Why?! So you can put your hand up my shirt again?! No, Toad, you promised me...” she felt like she was about to cry, “All for my own good, huh? Just like when you told Magneto about me and helped him kidnap me and brainwash me?!”

“Hey! I told you before, I didn’t know he was gonna do that. Now just get outta here!”

“All you do is lie to me, Toad! You don’t care about me at all! You just want someone to make you feel better while you think about other girls!” he gave her a small puzzled look, “You said her name yesterday! Wanda...” he tried to talk, but she cut him off, “You never call me by my name...I’m just someone that makes you feel good while you have fantasies about other girls...You were wrong, Toad. There are other people out there. At least there are for me,” she thought about Morph briefly.

“Babe...”

“How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?!” she shouted. Without thinking, she inhaled deeply and screamed. The store windows shattered and he crouched to the ground clutching his ears.

The ringing in her ears stopped suddenly. Her mouth was still open, but nothing was coming out. She reached up quickly to clutch at her throat. Something was wrong. She couldn’t talk. He stood up and walked past her, “I told you to get out of here. Too late now...” he didn’t stop to help her as he walked out.

Lili ran after him and tried to yell at him, but nothing came out. She couldn’t even speak or call for help. She chased him all the way back to the main lobby. The Brotherhood were gathered around the escalator and there was a girl coming down it. Her hands were glowing blue. She was wearing a long red coat and she looked angry. Furious even.

The rest of the X-Men had gathered and she ran over to them. Nightcrawler knew something was wrong with her and rushed to her side, “Kree, what’s wrong?” but she couldn’t answer him.

“It’s her. She’s controlling our powers somehow,” Jean commented as they watched the black haired girl in red.

“I don’t care what she can do. We can take her down,” Cyclops ordered. They all nodded and rushed towards the Brotherhood. The boys stepped back, apparently willing to let this new girl do all the work for them.

Nightcrawler teleported towards her, but Lili saw him end up behind the escalator in a fountain. Kitty tried to phase through the floor, but ended up stuck half way through, “Hey!” she screamed and tried to get herself out, but wasn’t able to move. Cyclops’ eye beam went off and he started shouting that he couldn’t close his eyes or stop it. The entire roof of the mall started caving in around them from the blasts. Spyke and Jean kept running at the girl in red, but Jean ended up flying into a wall and Spyke seemed unable to shoot off any of his spikes.

Lili knew she wasn’t a match, but she took off running at the other girl. She still couldn’t speak or scream, but she intended on tackling the girl if she had to. She got within two feet of the girl when Spyke came flying into her, knocking them both into a wall. She felt something snap in her arm. Pain shot up and she fought to keep tears from coming down.

All of them managed to regather when Cyclops ordered a retreat. Not just because they were losing, but the whole mall was coming down around them. His eye beams had caused too much damage for the building to stay standing anymore.

As they all ran out, she heard Toad shouting after them, “That’s right! Run! We owe it all to our secret weapon. Wanda, the Scarlet Witch!” she looked back at him and then back to the girl as they ran out to safety. She knew, without a doubt, that was the Wanda he’d been thinking about yesterday when she had her hand wrapped around his cock. She wanted to shout back that he could go to hell, but she knew it wasn’t worth it at this point.

*******

They all took the defeat hard. Even the Professor seemed upset with them, stating that they needed to train harder. That if they couldn’t even fight the Brotherhood anymore, then they would be no match for when Magneto decided to show up again. He laid into Scott the hardest for ordering the retreat. He told Scott that a real leader would have stayed behind and fought to the death to prove themselves.

It was a side of the Professor they’d never seen before. He seemed almost bloodthirsty. Hellbent that they needed to be able to defeat the Brotherhood and Scarlet Witch, “How can we fight her if she can control our powers, Professor?” Kurt tried to defend their reason for running.

“If you can’t use your powers, then you fight with your fists. I want all of you in the Danger Room in twenty minutes. Is that clear?” he snapped back.

“But Professor, we’re exhausted. We’ve never been in a fight like that before,” Scott snapped back, “We need to rest and regroup. We need to find out more about Scarlet Witch.”

“No excuses. In the Danger Room in twenty minutes,” with that, he wheeled from the room and left them staring at each other.

“I can’t believe he’s doing this to us. We didn’t do anything wrong,” Kitty commented. Then again, they’d never really failed at anything before. A fight against the Brotherhood always ended with them as the victors. A fight against anyone always ended with them on the winning end. Maybe the Professor just didn’t know how to handle them losing. Maybe he took it as a personal slight against himself. That he wasn’t training them right or something. None of them really knew the answer.

The rest of the night was spent in agony. The Professor pushed them harder and harder every minute. Shouting at them and snapping out orders. He demanded that they run faster, hit harder, and win at everything the Danger Room threw at them. Whenever any of them slipped up in the least bit, he called them out personally. Humiliating them in front of the others. Treating them like they were expendable soldiers.

“Professor! This is insane!” Scott shouted, “We can’t keep doing this! We’ve been at it for hours!”

Lili was leaning against a wall. She was clutching her left arm to her chest and was breathing hard. Sweat was rolling down her face. She knew her arm was broken, possibly a few ribs. Her first round with the gems on the asteroid had made her bones a little harder, but they were still brittle and easily broken. The weight of Spyke against her when that girl slammed them into the wall was more than enough to snap her bones. This training wasn’t helping matters, “Professor, Lili needs a doctor. She hasn’t moved her arm in nearly an hour,” Kurt walked over and touched her bare shoulder, “She’s burning up.”

She yanked her shoulder away, “I’m fine...” she growled, “We don’t have to stop because of me.”

“Yes we do need to stop, but not just because of you, Lili,” Scott and the others came around her, “We need to stop because this isn’t helping. We’re all exhausted. We need to stop and rest. This kind of training isn’t something that works on people like us,” they weren’t Wolverine. They weren’t powerful enough to endure this.

“Cyclops, if you can’t manage this, then you’ll never beat Magneto,” the Professor snapped, “If you can’t lead this team, then I’ll have to find someone else who can. Go clean up. Training again at six. Now go,” he left them at that. He didn’t bother to help Lili like the last time she turned up with a broken bone. He usually worked quickly to find a doctor to come take care of them when they were injured like that.

Jean, Rogue, and Kitty moved to help her to her feet. They lead her down to the infirmary, “I’ll call the doctor,” there was only one doctor that would come here and would keep their secrets. He usually made visits once a year to check on their general health, but he also made emergency visits.

Kitty and Rogue looked around the room for stuff to help prop her up against the bed so her wings wouldn’t get bent uncomfortably, “I’ll be fine. Really, guys, I will. I’ve had worse.”

“It wouldn’t have got this bad if the Professor had let us rest. Why’d he push us so hard? He’s never been like that,” Rogue brought her over a bottle of water.

“The Professor’s been acting strange for a few weeks. He keeps making me use Cerebro. I mean, he has in the past, because he says I need to know how to use it, but lately he’s acting like I’m the only one that can do it. He keeps telling me to track Wolverine and gets upset when I can’t. He says that with Wolverine, we can’t find Sabertooth, and without Sabertooth, we’ll never find Magneto. He knows I’m not ready for this...but he just keeps pushing,” Jean said as she came back in, “The doctor will be here in an hour.”

The phone by the bedside started to ring and they all stared at it blankly for a moment. None of them had ever seen a phone call come in down here. Rogue finally reached over and answered it, “Hello?...she’s restin’ right now. Call back later...Hey, don’t you take that tone with me, you creep...God, fine...” she held the phone out to Lili, “It’s for you. I dunno who it is, he wouldn’t say. Just says he needs to talk to you. Sounds like a creep.”

“Rogue, it might be the doctor...” she groaned as she reached over with her good arm and took the phone, “Hello?”

“Babe, I thought we had a deal. Movie and then my room. When you comin’ over?”

Her eyes widened and her mouth twitched in anger, “Shut up! You lied to me and I never want to see you again!”

“Calm down, Babe. I swear, I only ditched you there because I didn’t want you gettin’ hurt. Come over, we’ll talk about it.”

“No! If you ever come near me again, I’ll bust your eardrums and I’ll...” the phone flew out of her hand and into Jean’s. She hung it up quickly, “Why’d you do that?!”

“Lili, you were starting to rattle the window on the door and the table. I don’t want you to break something. Who was that?” the redhead questioned. They all knew Jean could find out if she wanted to.

She shook her head, “No one and don’t you dare get in my head about it,” she snapped.

The three other girls took a step back and Jean put her hands up defensively, “I won’t. I promise. Why don’t you get some rest till the doctor gets here?” they all started for the door and she just huffed as she laid back against the pillows and ignored them.

She felt like crying, but refused to do so. She didn’t want to cry about Toad. She’d always known he was a jerk, but things had been going well lately. She wondered how long the Brotherhood had been planning this attack. Probably a while.

Maybe she was overreacting a bit, but Lili felt it was warranted. Toad made a promise to her and he broke it. He attacked her friends. He ditched her and yet he’d planned to come back and do what he wanted. He must have thought she was really stupid to think she wouldn’t notice him being gone for so long.

As upset as she was, she felt good about her choice. If Toad planned on fighting with the Brotherhood, then she’d treat him like she did the rest of the Brotherhood. She wouldn’t pull her punches with him anymore. No more sneaking off to see him and pretending like it was okay.

She wouldn’t be ‘sleeping’ with the enemy anymore.


	18. Chapter 18

“Kree, you need to focus! If you make a mistake like that in a fight, you’ll be killed!” the Professor shouted over the intercom from the observation desk of the Danger Room, “Cyclops, if you cannot control and organize your team, then you’re not fit to lead!”

The rocky scene in the room disappeared and the whole group fell to the ground. All of them were trying desperately to catch their breath. Most of them had cuts, bumps, and bruises. Their uniforms were a mess, “I thought Logan was the only one allowed to do that to us,” Kitty groaned as she finally climbed up from the ground. The rest of them followed suit and started rubbing at their sore spots as the Professor wheeled his way in through the door.

“That was inexcusable! All of you are better than this! I’m amazed you were able to fight the Brotherhood and win at anyone point. You are all a disappointment to me...” he snapped.

They all looked at each other. This sort of behavior from the Professor started almost a month ago. They all just barely passed their finals at school and made it through the end of the school year. They all got in trouble and detentions of falling asleep in classes. It was getting to the point where all they did was train, “But, Professor...” Kitty started, but he cut her off.

“No excuses. You all got lucky fighting Magneto on Asteroid M, you won’t get lucky a second time. When he comes after you again, he’ll come after you hard. If you can’t handle it, then I’ll just have to find a team that can,” he snapped, “The New Recruits aren’t up for fighting Magneto, you all barely are if you can’t even defeat the Brotherhood.”

“Professor...” Scott started.

“Enough. I have no choice but to bolster our ranks. Meet your new teammates,” the door behind the Professor opened and the Brotherhood walked in.

“No,” Scott stated immediately.

“What’s wrong, Summers, can’t stand that you’re not top dog anymore,” Lance sneered, “Time for you all to take the high road and admit you need us.”

“Professor, if they’re here, I’m leaving,” Scott snapped at the bald man.

Jean grabbed his arm, “Scott...”

“No, Jean. It’s either us or them. They can’t be trusted.”

“Maybe not, but we beat you,” Peitro ran a circle around them before heading back to stand with the Brotherhood, “Come on, don’t be sore losers. We’re on the same team now. Deal with it.”

“Scott, you will lead the team to find Magneto,” the Professor ordered.

“No. No I won’t. I’m out,” he growled as he stormed off, shoving Lance out of the way as he went.

“Scott...” Jean took a step to go after him, but stopped. Instead, she turned and headed out the opposite door.

“Our last trace of Wolverine shows that Magneto was near the water treatment sewers in the city. We leave in the morning,” the Professor gave his order and left them alone with the Brotherhood.

Kitty walked by Lance and touched his arm with a small smile before following the others out past them. Lili glanced at Toad and he gave her a smirk, but she just frowned and walked away. She had no intentions of talking to him. It had been almost two weeks since the fight in the mall and she’d kept herself locked up in her room to avoid seeing him. She reminded herself every day that he wasn’t a good person. That he was selfish and only thought about himself.

Toad didn’t seem so willing to give up on it that easily. He followed after her, “Go away, Toad. I told you, I don’t want to see you again.”

“Well, you ain’t got that choice anymore. We’re on the same team now, Babe,” he jumped in front of her before she could get to her bedroom door, “Come on, just talk to me.”

“Not interested,” she growled and pushed him aside. His tongue shot out and wrapped around her good wrist, “Let. Me. Go.” she growled again.

“I swear, I was gonna come back to the movie to pick you up. I didn’t want you in the fight. Lance tried to get Kitty to leave too.”

“Hey, Creep, get your han...uh...tongue off of her before I trap you in a wall,” Kitty came running down the hall, ready to tackle the green mutant, “Haven’t you guys done enough to her? You broke her arm,” Toad went wide eyed and took off hopping down the hall away from them.

She wiped her arm off on her pants, “Thanks, Kitty.”

“Ugh, he’s such a creep. What was he bugging you about anyway? He said something about a movie?” she looked Lili over for a moment, “You two aren’t like...you know...?”

“What? Oh, uh, no. It was nothing. You know Toad, he’s just a little creep,” she tried to brush it off.

“Lil, is he the one you were yelling at on the phone?” she did seem concerned.

Lili shook her head, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Lil, you need to talk about it. I might not get it, cause it’s Toad, but you know, I’m still dating Lance. The others get on to me about that sometimes. Scott mostly. You know how he is.”

“Frigid,” to which Kitty nodded.

“If you wanna talk about it, we can,” Lili didn’t want to, but at the same time she did.

“Can we in my room?” she didn’t want Toad lingering around the corner listening in on it or anyone listening in on it.

“Sure!” the other girl smiled brightly, “I’ll tell you about Lance too. It feels like I have no one to talk to about it. Everyone here just takes Scott’s side of it.”

Lili felt kind of good that someone else was having issues like she was. It made her feel less alone about it. She lead Kitty in her room and they both sat down on the bed, “So, how long have you two been dating?”

Lili shrugged, “We were never actually dating. We never really went anywhere. He asked me out after he broke my wrist.”

“Wait, he broke your wrist and you went out with him? That’s a little messed up...” which hearing it did make it sound weird.

“It was kind of my fault too. I was all paranoid about Darkholme,” and apparently for good reason when it was all said and done, “I figured he had information, so I grabbed him and he jumped and my arm got slammed into the bleacher. I shouldn’t have grabbed him,” and he probably should have let go when she told him that it was going to break her arm.

“So why’d you go out with him?”

“I don’t know. He’s not so bad when you’re alone with him. We just talked a lot. It was nice having someone like myself to talk to...”

“What do you mean ‘like myself’? You’re not an unwashed creep,” the other girl smiled a little.

Lili just shrugged again, “Not like that. Kitty, you’re pretty and so is Jean and Rogue. It was just nice being around someone who had a mutation like mine. A physical one. Kurt is nice, but we just never clicked like I did with Toad. Kurt is happy that he can look normal with his inducer. I don’t want to look normal. Neither does Toad...”

“I guess that makes sense. So this has been going on for over a year? And no one noticed? I guess that means Toad wasn’t lying when he was telling people that you two were sneaking off together?”

“He was. We weren’t then and we certainly weren’t doing what he said we were. We didn’t start seeing each other regularly till after the dance.”

“So why are you so upset with him? Is it about the fight at the mall? I was pretty upset at Lance about that, still am...but I think I love him. I know he’s only doing what he thinks is right. I guess that is pretty messed up too. Dating someone who wants to be superior to everyone else and is willing to hurt my friends...”

“Yeah, that is pretty messed up, but no more than me forgiving Toad for telling Magneto about me. That’s why he took me to Asteroid M, because of information Toad gave him.”

“Guess we’re both messed up then, huh?” the girl smiled again. It did feel good to talk about it finally. She was sure the Professor knew more than he let on, but she’d never told anyone about any of it, “So you’re upset with him about the fight?”

“No. Not really. It does make me upset whenever we have to fight them, but that’s not why I’m angry. He lied to me. He told me we were going to go on a real date. I’ve wanted to tell people about us being together for a while, but he always said we shouldn’t. Then he finally said we would go out together. He even bought movie tickets...then he left me there so he could go fight you guys at the mall. He said it was for my own good...but he just left me there...and I know he doesn’t like me.”

Kitty looked confused, “Why would he go out with you and try to keep you out of a fight if he doesn’t like you?” which made sense. She knew that Lance did try to keep Kitty away when he knew a fight was going to happen. He did it because he liked her.

“Cause he said another girl’s name and he always tells me that he likes me ‘well enough’...and our first time together, he said that sleeping with the enemy is better than sleeping alone. That people like us don’t have a lot of chances for stuff like that, so we might as well be together,” she looked down at her lap and felt kind of stupid for falling for all of that. Kurt had a girlfriend. A smart, pretty girl from their school and she knew what he was and what he looked like.

“Together? Sleeping? Are you two...you know...?”

Lili blushed, “No. Not that. Just the concept. You know, we need to keep each other company romantically, because no one else will.”

“So he’s lied to you, broken your arm, gave Magneto information to basically kidnap and brain wash you, ditched you, says other girls names, and says he only likes you ‘well enough’. I’m sorry, Lil, but even Lance and I aren’t that messed up. If he did half of those things, I’d have kicked him to the curb long before now. I don’t care what he says, you can do better. There are hundreds of mutants in the world and even more non-mutants. Look at Amanda and Kurt. There’s no way Toad is who you should be settling for. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but it’s true.”

Lili just stared down at her lap. She didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t about to mention Morph or the fact that she and Toad had done more than just sitting together talking. It did make her a little upset that Kitty was calling out all those things, but they were true, “I know it’s true. I just...I really liked him.”

“I don’t know why you do, but it’s not my place to judge that...but you know, we’re only seventeen. You got a long time before you have to decide to settle for somebody. If Toad bothers you again, just let me know. I’ll trap him in a brick wall or something for a few hours,” she joked, though Lili knew that the other girl would probably do it, “For now, I think we really need to focus on this whole Magneto thing. The Professor has gone nuts about it.”

“I know. He’s not been acting like himself lately. He’s snappy and he’s pushing us really hard.”

“Yeah, he didn’t care one bit that you were hurt the other night. Or that any of us were exhausted. That’s not like him at all. He’s been pushing Jean hard too. You’d think if it was that important to him, he’d just use Cerebro himself. He’s just not himself. Magneto hasn’t even shown up, so I don’t understand why we’re actively seeking him out...but I guess the Professor would rather us get him before he gets us again,” Kitty shrugged.

“That makes sense. I’d like to give him a punch or two,” her nightmares had lessened greatly, but she remembered most of what happened now. At least she was till the Professor stopped having his sessions with her a few weeks ago.

“I would too. Can you believe he actually picked Blob over me?” the girl chuckled and so did Lili.

“I hate to say it, but I’m the one that set up those fights. I’m the one who told Magneto who should fight who...I don’t think I apologized to anyone for that...”

“We’re all over it. You weren’t yourself,” she leaned over and hugged the avian girl, “So you picked Toad to fight Rogue?”

“And Jean.”

“He never had a chance. You musta been mad at him,” she laughed again.

“Yeah, a bit, I guess.”

“Well, we should all get some rest. It’s gonna be a long day tomorrow. I doubt we’ll even find Magneto or Wolverine,” Kitty got up and waved a little bit as she headed out of the room.

“See ya...”

Crawling up to her pillows, she laid face down into them. She didn’t understand why things had to be like this. Not just with Toad, but with Magneto and the Professor. Why did it matter that they find Magneto? They weren’t sure what Magneto could do now. There was a good chance that the man had given up and just wanted to be left alone. She couldn’t even convince herself of that. Magneto wasn’t the type to just give up.

Neither was Toad, apparently. She was fast asleep when she was shook awake, “Go away, Kitty, I don’t know the answer to question twelve...” she groaned.

“Wake up, Babe,” she felt a cold hand slide up her back and rub between her wings. Fingers teased around the base of her lower wings and she moaned softly. The bed moved a little as he climbed onto it with her. He laid out next to her and she climbed up against him, laying her head on his chest, “Wanna fool around?”

That made her eyes pop open and she sat up quickly, pressing her hands to his chest as she looked down at him, “What the hell are you doing in my bed?!” she snapped. Lili felt anger swelling in her chest. She felt violated. He’d ignored what she wanted, the need for him to just leave her alone. Now he was laying in her bed, “I always defended you when people people called you a creep, but you really are a creep,” she growled, “Get out. Now.”

“Hey, hey...I was told to come wake you up. You’re the one that got all cuddly. Moaning and stuff. Figured you wanted to have a little fun,” he smiled and she felt his hands move up to her hips, “Your bed is a helluva lot nicer than mine. Doesn’t creak or anything. Bet we could get away with a lot in here, if it wasn’t for the telepath.”

She didn’t even think. Not even a second after he finished speaking, her hand flew across his face. She regretted it when she saw the red lines forming on his cheek from her fingernails. Lili had tried many times to cut and file them, but they always grew back thick and hard. They grew fast too. Almost claw like, “T-toad...I...I’m sorry. I d-didn’t mean to...do that...” she pulled back from him.

“...it’s alright...” he moved away from her and slid off the bed, “I’ve had girls do worse. At least you didn’t spit on me.”

Lili felt bad about it. She hadn’t meant to slap him. It just happened, “Toad, really, I didn’t mean to do that. You just...you always push. You push and you push and you push,” she sighed, “I told you that I don’t want to see you anymore. I know the only reason you even bother with me is because I’m like you. You don’t like me. You like that other girl. So just leave me alone.”

“...fine...” he mumbled and started from the room, “We’re leavin’ in an hour, so you might wanna get ready.”

She sighed and winced a little as the door shut behind him. She felt awful about slapping him and even about what she said, but it was the truth. Toad pushed and she just had to tell herself that what she did was justifiable. No matter the reason he was in her room, he’d known she didn’t want to see him and he knew he shouldn’t have got into her bed. It was creepy and wrong. She told herself that he deserved more than a slap.

Jean and the Professor stated that they found Wolverine. He was in the city, not far from where the Professor stated that Magneto had been sighted. Both teams are ordered to get to the jets, that they are leaving immediately, “Charles, we need to wait for Scott,” Storm stated.

“No. He’s made his choice. We leave now,” Storm tried to argue, but the Professor stopped her, “We leave now,” he reached past the white haired woman and started to take control of the jet. Storm didn’t seem happy with the choice, but she didn’t say anything as she took the co-pilot commands.

She did her best not to look over at Toad as they took off, but she did. His cheek was still red and she could see the scratch marks. Blushing, she looked down at her lap, “And I thought Kitty was the only one that was supposed to have claws,” Quicksilver’s voice floated into her ear and she turned her head to glare at him. The white haired boy snickered and so did Avalanche.

“More like a bird trying to eat her prey,” Avalanche said with a smirk.

Toad got up in his seat and snapped at his friends, “Shut up,” he growled.

“All of you keep quiet!” the Professor snapped. Toad fell down in his seat and all of them got quiet.

Lili bit her lip and stared down at her hands. They might be fighting Magneto today. Toad had to be the last thing on her mind. She had to focus.

Lili wanted to confront Magneto herself if she could.


	19. Chapter 19

The flight was tense. They all questioned whether this really was a good idea. Lili certainly didn’t feel prepared for it. Nor was she feeling very good about anything. Not only was Toad sitting less than three feet away from her, but that Wanda girl was sitting in front of her. She kept staring at the back of the girl’s head. She wanted to know more about the black haired girl.

Jean said that Wanda’s mutation was the ability to manipulate probability and reality via use of her hands. The Professor called in Chaos Magic. He said that she was basically all powerful and could use their own powers against them or take their powers away. He said that to defeat her in a fight would take years of training. Training he wanted them to complete in just a few short days. He was disappointed and reminded them that they were no match for her.

She was really pretty, but she looked so angry. Toad’s eyes seemed fixated on her the whole trip. He didn’t even care that Lili was there next to him. She’d never seen that look on his face before. He looked completely enamoured. Like he was desperate for her to look back at him with the same feelings in her eyes or even just smile. Not once during the trip did her red painted lips even twitch towards a smile.

She thought about Morph. He told her that the angrier a woman was, the prettier their smile was afterward. Morph probably would have liked Wanda too. He’d spend all his time trying to make her smile. Lili could say honestly that she’d never been jealous of another girl before for something other than grades or abilities, but she felt jealous of Wanda.

Maybe Quicksilver was right when he teased her about not having a chest. He was always teasing her about how she needed to gain a little weight, grow some knockers (as he called them), and wear makeup. Lili still didn’t remember what she looked like on Asteroid M, but everyone else seemed to. They said that despite the brainwashing and trying to kill them, she’d looked really good. She wondered a bit if that was what she’d really look like when she got older or if the radiation from the gems had caused it.

Reaching up, she fumbled with the buckle across her chest and headed for the back room of the jet. She didn’t want to be upfront with the others anymore. As she passed by Shadowcat, the other girl reached out for her arm, “You okay?” she asked softly.

Lili smiled and nodded a little, “Yeah. Fine,” she lied. Avalanche chuckled and Shadowcat reached over to hit him in the shoulder. She ignored it and headed through the door. A flash ran in behind her just before the door could close and Quicksilver sat next to her, “Go away.”

“Oh come on. Don’t look so down, things are gonna get fun today.”

“What do you mean? Do you know something, Pietro?” it wouldn’t be the first time he’d done something for Magneto.

“Course not. Fights are always fun though. At least for me,” he smirked, “All the action. The movement. The noise. It’s perfect. It’s only in a fight when I feel like the world is catching up with me,” it was hard to remember that as good looking as Pietro was, he had problems. He was a cocky, egotistical bastard for a reason. The world moved too slow for him, “Gets me excited knowing it’s about to happen. I can’t wait for it,” he closed his eyes for a moment, as if he were savoring the thought of the coming fight.

Lili shook her head, “That’s disgusting. You want people to fight just so you can feel like you fit in.”

“Heh, I don’t want to fit in. I want to be on top. Where I belong. Where we all belong. Or at least where most of us belong. Me, Lance, Kitty, Jean, Kurt, Storm...you. We’re the ones that will be running the world one day. Can I tell you a secret?”

She couldn’t help but think that he was acting strangely. He’d never been one to get talkative like that. Normally he would just gloat and tease, “...yeah...” she wasn’t sure what else to say in response.

“Magneto is my father,” she went a little wide eyed, “Don’t look so surprised. It ain’t like I have any love for the man. What I can’t figure out is why he picked you to go to Asteroid M over me. Maybe you can give me an answer for that.”

Lili understood now. He didn’t want to talk to her, he wanted to interrogate her. He wanted to know why daddy picked a no body over his own flesh and blood, “You don’t get it, Pietro. He needed a lab rat. He wanted to make sure that it wasn’t going to kill anyone important. If anything, it proves he loves you. He’d rather waste someone like me than to hurt his own child. Maybe you hadn’t thought about that.”

“...but why not pick someone who already believes in his cause? Why you?”

“Pietro, I know you’re smart. I’m sure you can figure it out. You don’t use your own soldiers, you pick the weak link from your enemy. He put me through two rounds with those gems. I did the first round willingly. I was grateful to him for it. My father destroyed my wings,” whether he knew that’s what he was doing or not didn’t matter, “And your father gave them back to me. I couldn’t thank him enough...but then he wanted me to go through it again. I didn’t want to, so he made me. Do you want to know what he said about me?” she waited for a moment, waited for him to nod in response, “She’s too weak for it to matter. We can’t waste our own people. If it works, then it’s a win for all of us and her. If it doesn’t, then at least no one from our cause is lost...would you really wish for your father to have picked you for that?”

He didn’t respond this time. He got up and shot out of the room. The door could barely keep up with him and he almost smacked into it as it opened too slowly for him. She just shook her head and played with the cast around her arm.

***

Kitty came back to get her once they got in the area. It was easy to figure out where Magneto had been. There were five large, metal orbs. It was the same ones that had brought them to Asteroid M. The jets landed and they broke into three teams to look around the area. It looked like an abandoned construction site. The water treatment plant was about three blocks away, which was the last place the Professor said Magneto was sighted.

Nightcrawler and herself checked out the orbs. The center one was the largest. It took Lili a moment to realize how they operated. There were completely hollow. No controls or anything. Then she remembered what Magneto could do. She knew how strong he was, even though she’d only seen small bits of it on display. She knew he would have no problem controlling these orbs and getting them where he wanted them, “This one is empty too...”

“They all are...” the blue boy commented as their group met back up.

“Where’d they go?” Rogue asked lightly, “They’ve gotta be here somewhere...”

Lili sighed and looked around a little, “What’s that?” she pointed upward as a small ball of light started floating down to the center of their group. It was a playing card and it looked like it was on fire, “What...” she reached out to touch it, but Jean knocked her hand away.

“Run!” the redhead shouted and took off. The rest of them followed suit just as the card exploded.

After it exploded, Wanda shouted from not far away, “It’s a trap!” Lili turned in the direction of the shouting and saw Pietro running off away from the girl in red. She thought to chase after him, but she knew she couldn’t catch him and her attention got distracted by something else.

Another explosion went off and metal started shooting up around them. The silo not far from where they were started coming to pieces. Fire shot up from it and Magneto was standing in the middle of it. Around him were four men. Only one of them was familiar, Sabertooth. The other three were people they’d never seen before.

“Who’re they?” Kitty asked softly.

“Don’t know,” she responded, “But I think we should get out of here...” her eyes were fixated on the three unknown men. They were all very tall. One looked as if he were covered in metal and ready for battle. Another was slender with red eyes, his hands were playing with a deck of cards. The last was a man dressed in some kind of orange suit and fire was shooting out the back of his hands, “Running really does sound like a good idea right now.”

“I don’t think we’re being given that option...” Jean muttered as the one with the cards smiled at them. His hands moved quick as he started flicking cards out at them. Each one looked as if it were on fire. After the first one, they all knew better than to stick around.

Lili took off with Spyke. They started to run towards the street, but a barrel came up behind them and knocked her off her feet. Spyke moved to help her up, but the guy in the orange suit came up near them. The barrel was on fire and he smiled at the two of them. Spyke tugged her up to her feet as the guy clapped his hands together and the fire rose up from the barrel. It formed into a claw like hand and lunged at them. Jean flung the two of them out of the way.

The guy with the orange red hair didn’t seem finished though. Lili took off running towards the orbs. She wasn’t sure what she was doing, but she wasn’t going to get caught in a corner again. She dove behind one of the orbs in time for fire to shoot around it. She covered her head and pulled her wings tightly around herself to keep them from getting singed. Lili wasn’t about to let her wings get damaged. She’d spent her whole life with them harnessed down to her back. Her father let them get mutilated from it. Lili wasn’t going to let them get set on fire.

“Ah, you gotta love it,” his voice made her shiver, “Come on out little sheila. I don’t want to harm ya,” he laughed, no, he cackled. Madly, “You’re not much of a sheila are ya? More of a galah if you ask me, at least if what Magneto says about ya is true.”

She couldn’t imagine what Magneto might have told his new group about her. Likely about her screaming, since that seemed to be her only useful ability. His footsteps got closer and she heard him kicked or touch or do something to the orb. With her back still pressed to it, she inhaled deeply. If he wanted to hear her scream, she was more than willing to give it to him. Before she could exhale, she felt the metal touching the skin of her back heating up.

Jumping up quickly, she was ready to bust his eardrums. She wasn't prepared for him to be standing right in front of her. He’d climbed into the orb and was heating it up from the inside. Most of his face was hidden behind an orange visor, but he leaned his head down and she peeked over the visor. His eyes were bright blue and he smelled like gasoline, “Well now, look at you. What a horrid little birdie you are,” he said with a chuckle. He reached over and cupped her chin. Even through the thick gloves he was wearing, she could feel heat, “Does the ugly bird have a name?”

“K-Kree...” she muttered and swallowed hard.

“Ugly name for an ugly woman,” she wanted to snap at him for the insults, but just looking at him, she found it hard to take him seriously about it. He was trying to get under her skin, “I’m...”

“Pyro,” she muttered again, “You’re warm...”

“You a telepath as well?” he laughed, “But yes, I am.”

She hadn’t meant it as his name, but more as what he was. Apparently it was his name too, “N-no. I’m not a telepath,” Lili pulled away from him, getting his hand off her face, “Don’t touch me,” her hand shot out at him much like it had at Toad, but she hit harder this time. Her nails clawed into his skin, leaving bloody marks on his face.

He growled as he turned his head to look down at her, “Oh, you’re gonna pay for that one,” both his arms moved out in front of him and she saw how his powers worked. On the back of each of his hands were small gun like holes with tubing running up his arms and into two small tanks attached to his back. She heard a small clicking noise and saw the small flames ignited inside of the tubes.

The thought to run was far from her mind. Her other hand flew out and clawed the other side of his face. She then shoved him back hard into the orb. Taking a deep breath, she screamed and the orb vibrated. The sound of her scream echoed in the orb. It was only when he seemed disoriented enough that she took off running. It didn’t take him long to start chasing after her again. She didn’t get far when he tackled her down.

Pyro pinned her to the ground and she felt one of his hands gripping the back of her head tightly. She heard a small click again, “Let’s make this even. Eye for an eye after all,” he laughed madly, “You got my cheeks, I’m takin’ your hair,” he chuckled and she winced as he balled her hair up into his fist. Lili started kicking to get away. Her booted toes dug into the ground as she tried to roll him off. Her wings tried desperately to free themselves from being trapped between his knees, “Woah, those things are stronger than the look. Almost knocked me off,” he laughed again, “Now hold still. Wouldn’t want to fry that pitiful face of yours.”

“Get off of her!” it was Toad’s voice. She saw him hopping towards them and she tried even harder to get Pyro off on her own. She didn’t want or need Toad saving her. Lili couldn’t let him.

Reaching back, she dug her nails into the calf of one of his legs and he howled. She felt the fabric of his suit break and his skin pop as she dug in. In his moment of shock, she threw him off. There was blood and skin under her nails, but she ignored it for now. Pyro was glaring at her with rage, “Little bitch...” he growled and Toad came to a stop by her feet.

“You okay, Babe?”

“I’m fine. I don’t need your help,” she snapped, “I can take care of this...” she charged the pyrokinetic and took him to the ground. Balling her hands up together, she pounded them down into his stomach. He gasped for breath, “Oh no you don’t,” she snapped as he tried to raise his arms up to fire at her. Shifting her weight, Lili managed to trap both his wrists to the ground with her feet. She knew she wasn’t strong enough on her own to just fight him. She had to disable him. Lili figured he needed those flamethrowers, otherwise he would have called up fire to burn her by now.

“I don’t need those to take you down,” he said with a smile. She wasn’t expecting him to be flexible or agile. He didn’t seem like he would be, but she was shocked when his legs came up and hooked under her arms. He kicked her off and was to his feet before she could even look up, “But it is more fun that way,” he laughed and clapped his hands together. A ball of fire appeared between them and it took on the form of a fiery bird, “Bird to bird, let us see who flies better,” he started laughing as the flame creature came down at her.

Lili curled up and covered her head, but the flames never hit her. Instead there was water. She opened her eyes to see Storm flying above them, arms held out wide and her eyes white as clouds. Rain poured down on the construction site, putting out all of Pyro’s fires. The orange clad mutant started to run, but a lightning bolt came down and zapped the pack on his back.

Spyke came over and helped her to her feet. She expected to see Toad, but he was gone. She spotted him not far from Wanda, “Come on, Kree. Scarlet found Magneto,” he pointed up to one of the skyscrapers. It was hard to tell from so far away, but the fluttering cape gave him away, “Lets go.”

“Right,” she nodded and started off with him.

They were almost out of the construction site when the ground started to shake violently. Most of them fell to their knees as the ground dropped downwards. By the time it hit the bottom of the hole, they were all piled against each other, “Is everyone okay?” she heard Beast’s voice, but she couldn’t see him.

“Yeah. I think so,” it was Shadowcat’s voice.

There was a lot of grunting and sore whining as they all started to climb up, “Where are we?” Jean asked.

“I dunno, but I don’t think we’re supposed to be here...” it was Toad.

Not even a moment later, Lili fell back to the ground as something fell on top of her. It was Wanda. The girl had managed to cling to the edge of the hole above them, but lost her grip eventually. Lili found herself wanting to shove the girl off in a fit of anger, but she didn’t. Instead, she helped Wanda stand up. Toad hopped over, “You okay, Babe?” he asked.

Both of them snapped at him, “Don’t call me that,” they both growled before looking at each other. Lili looked away sheepishly before climbing over some debris to get to the others.

They all started discussing the easiest way to get out of here this hole when there was the sound of gun clicking around them. A bright light shone in their eyes and they saw that they were surrounded by dozens of men with guns. All of their uniforms and helmets said M.R.D. on them. Lili didn’t know what that was, but she had a feeling that they weren’t supposed to be down here, “Hello, Gentlemen and Women,” Beast started, “I’m terribly sorry for the intrusion. I assure you, we did not mean to crash through your ceiling,” it sounded almost comical as he got up to explain themselves, “If you just point us to the door, I promise we will be on our way promptly.”

All of them stopped and waited, as if they were expecting the blue man’s well said request to be granted. A few of the gunned men parted ranks, but kept their weapons well aimed. Lili looked down at her chest to see several red dots. All of them had laser sights pointed at their hearts. From between the men, a taller, gruff looking man appeared. He wasn’t wearing the same kind of uniform. He looked a bit more professional, “Mutants. All of them...” he said with a sickening tone to his voice.

“Orders, Commander Trask?” the gunned man nearest him asked.

“Shoot to kill. Take the bodies to the lab.”

“What?!” several of them shouted and the others took on a fighting stance.

“Wait. Ready the Sentinel. I think it’s time for another test run. I want as many of them as possible captured alive and taken to the facility,” that didn’t sound like a better option, “Keep it quiet though.”

“Yes, Sir!” the men shouted and started filing out of the area.

They all looked at each other, “I don’t like the sound of that. He knew we were mutants and didn’t freak out about it.”

“Something’s going on here. We need to get out now,” Jean stated.

The ground shook several times before a newer, brighter light filled the room, “Mutant life detected. Capture mutant life forms. Capture mutant life forms. Capture mutant life forms.”

Lili’s eyes widened, “What is that thing?!”

“Apparently a ‘sentinel’,” Beast stated the obvious.

Lili couldn’t begin to judge how tall it was and what it was saying was not the most pleasant of things. Capture them, “I think it’s time to figure out how to get outta here,” Toad groaned and started to hop his way up the walls towards the opening above them. The moment he was about halfway up, the robot seemed to transform. It’s chestplate opened up and it’s hands flicked out into claws, “Toad! Get down!” she shouted at him, but he ignored her and the robot fired a purple beam of light at the frog boy. Jean managed to grab him and yank him back down with her powers.

Despite everything, Lili ran over and crouched down next to him, “Are you okay?” she reached over and touched his shoulder.

“Yeah. Fine,” he groaned as he sat up, “The hell was that?”

“That thing has weapons!” Spyke shouted, “It’s gonna kill us!”

“No, I believe it stated that it was going to capture us,” Beast corrected, “Either way, I think it would be best for us to find a way out of here.”

They got their way out as the ground started shaking again. Just as it fell into the ground, the ground started to rise up. Taking both them and the robot towards the surface. Lili doubted this was part of that commander’s plans. Even he came rushing back out looking confused, “It’s Magneto!” Wanda shouted.

“How’re we gonna keep that thing outta the streets?!” Rogue yelled they came top side.

The robot wasted no time in stomping towards them. Storm flew into the air and lightning bolts shot down at the creature. It seemed unphased and even a little annoyed by the attack. It took a step towards the street and Beast ordered that they had to keep it contained, “Easier said than done,” Avalanche shouted back as he raised his foot and slammed it into the ground. A hole appeared under the robot’s foot, but that barely slowed it in the least, “This isn’t working,” he growled.

Lili looked around quickly and noticed that Magneto’s orbs were missing. She had a feeling this was all a setup. There was no way Magneto didn’t know what was under this construction site, “We can’t keep it in here. It’s too big,” she groaned as it kept moving closer to the city street. The only other place it could go was out into the harbor. That would involve all of them jumping into the water and there was a good chance that the robot was waterproof or too smart to take the dive.

Blob rushed the metal creature and it stumble back a little, but regained footing quickly. It looked down at the large boy, “Capture mutant life forms,” one of it’s blaster shot at Blob. Instead of a purple laser, it was a ball of green goo that reminded her of Toad’s mucus. It surrounded the mutant boy and he struggled for a moment before becoming paralyzed. Toad rushed over and tried to kick at the substance, but his foot got stuck. He yelped and managed to free himself, “That stuff’s crazy!” he shouted before hopping off, “I’m outta here.”

Toad wasn’t the only one running off though. Nightcrawler disappeared, Spyke took off running, Shadowcat and Avalanche were running hand in hand towards the street, and even Jean was following after them. Lili took her shot at the robot and screamed at it. The metal titan vibrated and shook, but then shot the green goo at her. She managed to dodge it and took off running after her teammates.

“We have to get out of here! Where’s the Professor?!” Shadowcat shouted. The Black Bird was missing from the construction site. Lili wondered for a moment if he’d abandoned them to go after Magneto. She didn’t want to think that he would, but with the way he was acting she was finding it plausible.

“He left us!” Avalanche snapped.

“He wouldn’t do that,” Lili didn’t want to believe he would, “He’ll be back for us. He went after Magneto!”

“If he did, it was after we fell into that hole. He left us there to die!”

“Children, I don’t think now is the time to fight about this,” Beast came up behind them and urged them to keep moving as a news helicopter was hovering above them, “Oh, this is not good.”

They continue to try to slow down and stop the robot, but nothing seems to phase it for long. Soon, Spyke is stuck in the green goo and so is Rogue. Shadowcat manages to escape by phasing out of the stuff, but the others were not so lucky. Even Beast got caught.

Nightcrawler teleported onto the machine and dropped a grenade into it’s shoulder. Helicopters were flying around over their heads. There were people screaming and running around everywhere as the robot stomped through the city, blasting everything in its path, “Nightcrawler! Get me up there!” she yelled at the tailed boy.

“Verstanden!” he shouted and teleported down next to her. He grabbed her arm and took her up to the robots other shoulder, “What’re you going to do?!”

“Capture mutant life forms,” the mechanical creature’s voice rang in her ears.

“Cover your ears or get outta here,” she yelled at the blue mutant. He nodded and covered his ears tightly. Almost everyone in the institute had heard her scream before. They knew what kind of damage she could do. The only limit to the damage she could cause was dependant on how long her breath would last. Eventually, she ran out of breath and had to stop.

Taking a deep breath, she got as close to the robot’s head as she could. She screamed and the metal head started vibrating, “Cccccapture muttttannnnt liiiiife formssss...” it had trouble speaking, but it wasn’t phased other than that. It reached up and knocked her from its shoulder. Nightcrawler teleported off to catch her, but he missed. Her wings flapped hard, but it did little more than slow her fall.

“Kurt!” she reached up for him, but he was out of arm's length.

She stopped suddenly, “Got ya...” the sudden stop made her already injured arm dislocate. Lili groaned a bit and looked over to see Toad hanging from a lamp post. His arms were wrapped under her arms, “You okay?”

“Yeah...but I think you dislocated my shoulder...” she groaned as he hopped to the ground and set her down.

“Better your shoulder than a smashed skull,” he smiled.

Lili nodded in agreement. She didn’t want him saving her, but he was right. Better to be saved than to have her head cracked open.

There wasn’t anymore talking. Storm flew down and stated that they had to retreat. The Professor landed the Black Bird not far away and yelled for them to get inside, “But what about the others!?” Shadowcat shouted.

“We can’t help them if we all get caught!” the bald man responded and they all started inside.

Toad helped her to a bench seat and stood in front of her as she clutched her shoulder, “I need you...” she swallowed a bit, “I need you to pop it back in place.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes, just do it,” she moved her hand and turned her head to the side, “Just do it fast. You did it, you fix it.”

“Alright...” he muttered and wrapped his fingers around her shoulder as the jet took off. She didn’t feel anything else, except a hard pop and a crack as he forced her shoulder back into place. She groaned and whimpered slightly.

Lili leaned her head over against his chest, “Thank you...” she said softly. She reached up to touch his hand, but he moved away. He didn’t say anything, just walked away and sat next to Wanda. He reached over to her and tried to touch her hand, but she knocked it away and glared at him. It didn’t seem to phase him as he continued to sit there. Lili didn’t feel like spending the whole trip home watching Toad try to touch and hold hands with the dark haired girl, so she headed up towards the front of the jet.

“Oh my god...” Jean muttered and Lili went to stand next to the red head. She went wide eyed at the sight.

The institute was gone. In it’s place was rubble, “What happened?” everything was decimated.

“Where are the students?” Jean started to become frantic as they landed and everyone started to rush out, “Bobby! Amara!”

“Ray! Jamie!” Lili called out as they started searching the rubble for the young students.

“We’re over here!” it was Boom Boom’s voice. The group of New Recruits came stumbling out of the wreckage with Scott leading the way. They all looked badly banged up. Their clothing torn, bleeding, and bruised up, “The mansion went nuts!”

“Yeah, we barely made it,” Amara added in, “Scott got us into Cerebro’s room and it barely held up.”

Jean ran over to hug Scott, but he pushed past her and headed towards the Professor, “This is your fault! You set it to blow!” he growled as he grabbed the man by his shirt and lifted him from the wheelchair. Everyone rushed over and started pulling Scott off as he threw the disabled man to the ground, “I saw you on the camera. You set it to go off and you left them in there!”

“Scott...Calm down!” Jean snapped as she held him back from attacking, “The Professor would never do that.”

“Hehehe...You’re right,” the Professor stated from the ground as he started to push up to his feet. They all stared in shock. None of them had ever seen him stand before, “I did do it,” his body started to change. Red hair sprouted from his head and his skin started to take on a blue tint, “And if you ever want to see Xavier again,” his voice changed to a womans as he transformed into Mystique, “I suggest you back off.”


	20. Chapter 20

Mystique’s appearance changed everything. Scott charged towards her, but the Brotherhood jumped in front of her, ready to defend her to the death if need be, “Where’s the Professor?!” several of them shouted at her.

“If you don’t back off, you’ll never find him!” the blue woman shouted back at them.

A fight was ready to break out, but the sounds of helicopters and sirens caught all of their attention. A whole swarm of cop cars, swat vans, and helicopters were starting to surround the rubble of the mansion, “Scatter!” Scott shouted and they all took off running in different directions.

Lili took off with some of the younger mutants. A blond and orange haired boy named Berzerker lead the way. Two cop cars cut them all off. He shot off two pulsing shots of electrical energy and fried both the cars. It caused enough of a distraction for them to get away again. They ran off into the forest. Boom Boom wrecked the trees as they went.

“Jamie!” she shouted as the youngest boy was grabbed by a cop and fell to the ground. Dozens of copies of the young brown haired boy appeared, confusing the officer. Lili grabbed the real one and kept running as the copies disappeared. She needed to keep them safe, but she didn’t have an idea how she was going to do that. It was sad, but most of the younger mutants were more capable of taking care of themselves than she was, “We need to get into town and find somewhere to hide,” she reached up and switched her image inducer on.

“I know somewhere safe,” Berzerker said as they broke through the trees and started to sneak into town. It was easy to see that the secret was out. People were running into their houses and locking door. Police cars were everywhere.

Lili kept most of the young mutants by her side, “They’re looking for us. Where can we go, Ray?”

“It’s this way...” he lead them through a few back alleyways before stopping over a manhole, “Down here...”

“You want us to go down there?!” Boom Boom didn’t seem to like the idea of going into the sewers.

“You got a better plan?” he asked as he pulled the manhole cover off, “Come on.”

Lili thought about it for a moment. There really were few choices. The fight with the robot had plastered their faces all over the evening news. Everyone in town knew who the students at the institute were, “Okay. We’re going,” she was the oldest of the group and had the final say, “Everyone down the hole,” she started ushering them in after Ray before climbing down herself.

“Oh, it smells,” Jubilee groaned.

“It’s better than sitting in a jail cell,” Lili commented as she walked next to Ray, “What’s down here that’s going to keep us safe?”

“There’s some people down here...” he started, but was cut off.

A chalk white man stepped from the shadows. He had an almost snake like face. He was bald and reminded her of Morph quite a bit. Lili pushed some of the students back behind her and stood next to Ray, “Who are you?”

“The ones invading my home are the ones who should be answering the questions, Lili,” his voice was raspy and cold.

“How do you know my name?” her brow furrowed as she even pushed Ray back a bit.

“I know a lot about you. About all of you. You’re from the institute.”

“Then you should know why we’re down here. We need somewhere safe to stay. They’re just children, they haven’t done anything,” not that she was much older than them herself. Several of them had lives worse than herself, but many of them hadn’t been through much in life, “Please, we just need to lay low for a while.”

His dead eyes scanned over them, “Some of you have done things,” but he left it at that, “But very well. Follow me.”

He turned his back to them and started to walk. She glanced over at Ray and he nodded. She followed after the ghost like man. His clothing was old and tattered, too short for him too, “Come on,” she motioned for the other mutants to follow with them, “What’s your name?”

“Caliban,” he said smoothly.

“How’d you know my name?” she wanted answers. If she was going to trust the safety of the other students to this guy, she wanted to know more about him.

“Caliban scanned you,” he seemed to like keeping his answers short, which was fine with her.

“So you’re a telepath?”

“No.”

Lili stopped and held the other kids back with her wings, “Listen, I’m in charge of this group and I’m entrusting their safety to you now. I need to know that I can trust you. So tell me how you knew my name. Are you spying on the institute? Working for Magneto? Working for Mystique?”

“No, to all of those,” he stopped and turned to look at her, “Caliban knows all of your names and Caliban knows your power levels. That is what Caliban is. Caliban is a scanner. Caliban can tell what your powers are and learn about you from it.”

Lili thought for a moment, “Fair enough.”

He seemed to accept that and started to lead them again. He lead them to what seemed to be an abandoned subway station. There were several dozen mutants there. It was easy to tell that most of them were mutants just from their appearances, but there were a few that looked completely normal and harmless. At the front of the room was a strong looking woman with an eyepatch over her right eye. She didn’t look like a mutant, but Lili knew appearances meant little to nothing when it came to that.

Caliban grabbed her arm and pushed her roughly towards the eye patched woman. He then stood between her and the young mutants, “They are seeking safety.”

“Well now. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen anyone from the institute down here. I’m surprised Xavier is still accepting mutants like you. Why don’t you turn off that silly inducer, you’re among your own kind down here,” her voice was deep and rough.

Straightening herself, she did her best to keep eye contact with the woman, “I was among my own kind at the institute as well. I’ll turn my inducer off once I know we can trust you.”

“You shouldn’t be so untrusting of me. I’m a mutant like you.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve met plenty of mutants that hate and attack other mutants. I don’t know how long you people have been down here, but surely you must know what’s going on up there.”

“Yes. I do. We hear and see everything from the city,” she smiled lightly, but it wasn’t a very friendly smile, “Tell me who you are.”

“If you hear and see everything, then shouldn’t you already know,” Lili stood her ground.

The woman stared at her for a moment before busting out laughing, “Oh, I like you. Sassy. Just tell me who you are and I’ll let you stay here.”

“Me and my group?” she wasn’t about to let the woman just say she could stay here and then do whatever she wanted with the students.

“Wise girl, but yes. All of you.”

“I’m Lili Kline, also known as Kree. I’m one of Xavier’s students. The mansion was destroyed and we were forced to flee or get taken in by the police. I would rather the younger students not sit in a jail cell for doing nothing wrong, so we ran.”

“Good. Looking out for our people is the best thing any of us can do. You all can stay here...for now. Caliban, take the children to the extra rooms and let them get cleaned up. Find them some untorn clothing, I’m sure they would prefer that considering their comfy lives at the institute,” it sounded like an insult, but Lili held her tongue about it, “You,” she pointed to Lili, “Come with me.”

She nodded before looking back to the young mutants, “Just do what they say. I don’t any of you causing problems. Understand?” her eyes focused on Boom Boom for a moment till the girl nodded in response.

She then followed after the woman with the eye patch. The woman lead her behind a throne like chair to a door and Lili was surprised to see the furnishings in the back room. It wasn’t beautiful or anything, but there was a bed, a desk, chairs, clothing. Not things she would expect to see in the home of a sewer dweller, then again, she wasn’t sure what sewer dwellers usually had, “What’s your name?”

“Callisto. I’m the leader of this group.”

“How long have you all been down here?” she wanted as many answers as she could get if she was going to trust their safety to these people.

“Over a decade. We’re the Morlocks.”

“Like the creatures from the Time Machine book,” it made sense, somewhat, “Why do you all live under here when the institute is so close by? The Professor would take you all in. I saw children out there, really young ones. He could help them.”

The woman took a seat at the desk and motioned for her to sit too, “He would try to help, but he wouldn’t be able to. We’re the mutants that even mutant society rejects. Some of us, such as myself, don’t need to be down here, but we’re here to help the others. They are the unfortunate mutants that can never hope to even consider a life beyond this. Mutants with appearances or mutations that make life above the sewers impossible.”

She remember what Magneto said about mutant classifications. She realized that this was a group of the Epsilon level mutants, “I see.”

“So the institute was attacked?”

“Yes. A mutant named Mystique captured the Professor and impersonated him. She set off the mansion’s self destruct sequence. Those that came here with me are just a few of the mutants that were there when it happened. If we hadn’t made it back when we did, I don’t what would have happened to them all...” they’d said that Scott just barely managed to get them to a safe location. They all probably would have died if he hadn’t shown up.

“Mystique. I know her. Not well, but well enough. Such a troublemaker,” the woman smirked.

Lili shook her head, “She’s not a troublemaker. She’s a monster. She almost killed all of them. Just to be rid of the institute, she was willing to kill all of those mutants that were not on a mission. When she was impersonating the Professor, she demanded they stay behind. She knew they would be trapped there.”

“I’m glad no mutant lives were lost. We may not be a fit for that place, but it does help mutants. You and the others will be welcomed to stay here for as long as it’s needed, but you will be required to pull your own weight. If you want food, you will have to pitch in just like the rest. If you want a bed to sleep in, you’ll have to prove yourself hard working enough to deserve one. If you want our trust, we’ll need proof that we can trust you. I hate to say it, but till we can trust you fully, I cannot allow you to leave.”

Lili didn’t like hearing that, but it made sense. She wanted to protect her people. It was a risk taking in so many outsiders. She couldn’t let them leave and risk it being found out that they were down here, “I understand. We might have lived ‘comfy’ lives, but we know how to work. The Professor made sure of that.”

“I’m sure he did,” she smiled and stood up, walking over to the door, “As I said, you and your friends are welcomed here until you give me a reason to change my mind about that,” she opened it and waved someone in, “This is Japheth. If you need anything, within reason, please ask him.”

Other than the bright red color of his skin, the man that walked in looked rather normal, “Hallo voëltjie,” she really hated how many people around her spoke different languages. It was starting to becoming annoying, “Follow me,” he smiled and she nodded.

Before leaving the room, she turned to Callisto, “Thank you for the help,” the woman nodded in response.

“Hoe is die voël vandag doen?” it sounded like a question, but she wasn’t even sure what accent he had or what language it was. She’d never heard it before. He was tall, super tall, at least six and a half feet tall. A long tuft of white hair came from the center of his head and hung over the side, the rest was bald and the white stuck out even more against his red skin. Blue tinted sunglasses kept her from seeing what color his eyes were.

“I, uh, I don’t understand what you’re saying...” she admitted. Better to admit it than to pretend like she knew what he was saying.

“Sorry. I forget sometimes,” he smiled, “I asked how the bird was doing today.”

“Bird?” as far as she knew, her inducer was still turned on. No on here had seen her wings as of yet, “Is that just some kind of slang for ‘girl’?”

“No no. It’s because of your wings. Caliban told me,” he smiled again.

“Oh...uh, well, I’m not doing so good, obviously,” she stated back as he lead her through the sewer dwellings to an empty room. It looked like an unfinished subway tunnel and the opening was covered with an old blanket.

He held the blanket open for her, “You can stay here,” it was a small room with the very basics of furnishings. A mattress on the floor with an old blanket and that was about it. She wasn’t about to complain about it. She just hoped the others at least got the same treatment.

“Thank you.”

“If you need anything, voël, I am over there,” he pointed across the room to another tunnel like room, but that one had a wooden door fitted to it.

She knew it would sound strange, but she had good reason for it, “Does ‘voël’ mean ‘bird’?” he nodded, “I know this is weird, but please don’t call me that,” she was getting tired of people coming up with names for her. With Toad it was always ‘babe’, with Morph it was always ‘darling’, and that Pyro creep had called her a ‘galah’. She didn’t even know what a galah was, but she didn’t like it, “Please, just call me Lili or, if you have to call me something else, then call me Kree. Okay?”

He gave a small tilt of his head before responding, “Of course. Anything the lady wants.”

“Thanks,” she smiled.

With that, he left her to herself and the blanket fell behind him. The room was dark, with only a few candles giving off light. She saw electric lights in a few places, but she guessed not everywhere down here had that as an option.

Looking around for a bit, she headed back out and saw Japheth speaking with a few other Morlocks. It didn’t take long for her to find the institute students. A few of the Morlocks were glancing at them curiously as she walked over, “Ray...” she pulled the teenager aside, “...how do you know these people?”

“I don’t really. I just heard from some people before I came to the institute that a safe place for mutants was in the sewers. I met one once above ground, but he ran off. I didn’t realize they’d keep us here like this.”

Sighing, she pulled the group together and gave them some simple orders, “None of you are to use your powers unless instructed to. Understand?” a few hesitated, but they nodded, “And none of you try to leave with Callisto’s instruction. Understand?” they nodded again, “I have a communicator. I’ll get in contact with Jean and the others as soon as I see if we have reception down here. Until then, we’re guests here. Be nice and behave. Got it?” they all nodded, except Jamie, “What’s wrong, Jamie?”

The boy looked around nervously before leaning in to whisper, “I don’t want to be here.”

“It’ll be okay, Jamie. Callisto promised me that we’re free to stay here as long as we need to. Once she feels she can trust us with keeping this place a secret, we can leave. So long as you all behave, that shouldn’t take long. She knows we’re mutants and I’m sure the Professor was aware that they were down here. We keep this place a secret, just like we did the institute,” at least till Mystique blew it up, “Just stay calm and stay close to each other. Okay?” Jamie nodded this time. She felt bad for the boy. He was the youngest kid at the institute right now and the others teased him a lot because of his lack of control over his powers. Anytime he walked into something, tripped, or bumped into someone; the room was filled with dozens of copies of himself. She knew it was just a matter of time before he could control it. Reaching over, she pat his shoulder a bit, “Think of this as your first mission. I’ll put a good word in with the Professor for you,” she smiled at him.

“Pft, if we ever find him...” Boom Boom scoffed and Lili glared at her, “Hey, just bein’ realistic about it,” she shrugged started to wander off.

“I mean it, Boom Boom. Behave yourself. We all have to.”

“Whatever...” the blond girl rarely seemed to care about anyone except herself. It made Lili want to smack her sometimes.

“Everyone, just go back to your rooms,” she pointed across the room, “I’m right there. You all should get some rest.”

She waited till they all dispersed and she made sure to memorize where each of them went. A voice behind her made her jump a little, “Don’t trust us?” it was Japheth.

“Don’t sneak up behind me. I have a habit of screaming and I don’t want to bring the tunnel down,” she snapped, “And it has nothing to do with trust. I want to keep my team safe,” until otherwise stated, she was the highest ranking of the group, so it was her team. The Professor always told them to take charge when needed and she felt it was needed.

“I’ll remember that. The screaming, that is,” he smirked, “You know, you might come to like it down here. You may not want to leave once you’re allowed to.”

“I doubt that...” she commented and headed back towards her room, “Just let me know what we have to do to earn our keep around here.”

“Will do, Lili.”


	21. Chapter 21

“We’re fine, Scott. I promise. Some of the kids are a little freaked, but we’re all safe,” she spoke softly into the communicator. She wasn’t sure if Callisto would want her using it, but she had to contact the rest of the group, “I know you can track us, but don’t. I don’t want to start a fight with these people. They just want to be left in peace and as soon as they feel they can trust us, they’ll let us go. I swear, we’ll be fine. Between Amara, Ray, Boom Boom, and myself; we can control anything that happens if it gets violent. I’d rather Callisto let us go rather than us to fight our way out.”

“Are you sure, Lili? We can come get you all before we leave.”

“No. We’re fine. Leave? Did you all find the Professor?” she asked curiously. She knew she shouldn’t be taking so much time when she wasn’t even sure if Callisto would like her talking to the others, but she wanted to know.

“Not yet. We’re going to rescue the people that got captured in the fight against that robot. Mystique sent Wanda and Toad to the city to see if Magneto survived that thing falling on him. We should be back by morning, contact us then. Okay? If we don’t hear from you within twelve hours of that, we’re coming to get you.”

“Knowing Magneto, he probably didn’t...” she muttered to herself before responding to Scott, “Yeah. I’ll contact you again as soon as I can in the morning. Be careful.”

“You too.”

She sighed and slipped the communicator into the sleeve pocket of her uniform. They’d already been here for a day and the others were still hesitant to come out of their rooms and interact with the Morlocks. She knew that most mutants looked like normal humans and most of them were used to that. It was only when they came to the institute and met Nightcrawler and herself that they were exposed to non-human looking mutants. Being around so many strange mutants was probably difficult for some of them. Jamie seemed to be taking it the worst. He ran off scared any time Caliban looked at him.

“Stout meisie,” the smooth voice came from behind her and she jumped.

She turned around to see Japheth, “I warned you not to sneak up on me. You want this whole tunnel to cave in?” she snapped at him with a warning for the second time.

“Of course not,” he smiled, “You know, Callisto would not be happy to hear that you were talking with someone from up there,” he pointed towards the street that was above them.

“Yeah, well, this thing has a GPS in it. If I don’t contact them, they’ll come down here in a raid. And what did you call me? I thought I told you to call me Lili,” she didn’t want anymore nicknames.

He chuckled, “I wasn’t calling you anything more than a ‘naughty girl’ for doing something you shouldn’t be,” he raised his hands up defensively, “No nicknames. I promise.”

Lili didn’t like being called that either, “Don’t call me ‘naughty’ or ‘girl’ either, please. It’s rude.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. You sure have a lot of rules.”

Her response to that was to just roll her eyes and walk past him, “What are my people doing right now?”

“Scavenging. We need food. More mouths to feed right now,” he started to walk down the long tunnel with her.

“You gonna rat me out to Callisto?”

He shook his head, “No. We do what we have to do. You’re ensuring the safety of your people by letting your friends know that you are safe and you are ensuring our safety by not letting your friends come running down here on a rescue mission. No reason to involve or worry Callisto about that.”

“Thanks,” she smiled a little. She didn’t want to make things difficult for her friends. Or worse, Callisto hadn’t said what would happen if they didn’t manage to gain their trust. She had a feeling that many of the mutants down here weren’t just unpleasant to look at, but probably had some powers that would be dangerous. Lili had to do what was best for them all.

“How are you finding life among us?”

She shrugged a little, “Not sure yet. It’s only been a day. I’d need more time here.”

“Well, if you like it, I do hope you decide to stay.”

“Why is that?”

“We need more people like you down here. There are so many mutants with mutations that make it hard for them to live. We need more that are willing to stand up for and defend them should the situation call for it. And I wouldn’t mind seeing a lovely dove like you around more often,” he laughed. It was hard to tell if he was joking, insulting, or being serious.

Lili shook her head, “I won’t be staying and I’m nobody’s dove.”

“Nobody? Really? Surely there is a young mutant who is lucky enough at the institute to have you at his, or her, side.”

She felt uncomfortable with the conversation, “No and no more questions about that.”

“Ah, another rule. I shall add it to the list,” this time she knew he was teasing.

Looking over at him, she tried to figure out what his mutation was. She knew it had to be more than just red skin, “So what can you do?”

“Now why would I tell you that? You’ve not turned off that inducer yet,” he reached over and touched the pendant dangling around her neck.

She thought for a moment, “You tell me what your mutation is and I’ll turn it off. A fair trade?”

“Sure,” he smiled, “I have a sentient digestive system.”

“I’m not sure what that means...” she admitted.

“I have no digestive system of my own. When I was born, I was always sick. I was told it was cancer as a child, but it wasn’t. They couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. When I was twelve, I met another mutant. He was very powerful. He told me what I was and helped me figure out what was wrong with me.”

“How’d he do that?”

“He sliced my abdomen open,” to which she went wide eyed, but he continued, “When he opened me up, he found that my digestive system did exist, but in the form of two large slug creatures. They crawl from my body and eat for me. When they return, the pass the nutrition on to me. They give me energy too. I gain the power and strength that comes from whatever they eat. Unfortunately, sometimes they eat garbage, which isn’t very pleasant. I also gain the memories of what they eat. Would you like to meet them?”

Lili wasn’t sure what to think. It sounded awful, “M-meet them? They’re here?” she looked around quickly, but saw nothing that looked slug like. Maybe some rats, but no slugs.

“Nee, nee,” he laughed, “They are not hanging from the walls or anything like that. They are here,” he put his hand over his shirt covered stomach, “They live inside of me. How else would they pass along the energy they eat?” though he didn’t seem to expect an answer, “I’ll show you,” he started to lift his shirt up, but she reached out to grab his hand to stop him, “Problem?”

“I, uh, I’m not so sure I want to meet them just yet.”

“Why not? They are very sweet. They have names. Eany and Meany,” he smiled.

She was sure if her face could become more pale than it naturally was, it would have, “Oh, you named them. Uh, I’m just not very fond of...bugs.”

“They’re not bugs, Lili. They are living creatures that have full, conscious thought. They can even hear you and I’m sure hearing them being called bugs will upset them,” he actually frowned and looked upset that she didn’t want to meet the creatures.

“They’re not gonna lunge at me or anything, are they?” she wasn’t sure she really wanted to go through with it, but she did feel kinda bad for insulting him and them. She didn’t like bugs and always shuddered whenever Toad ate them around her. She always refused to kiss him after he did that till he brushed his teeth.

“Of course not,” he smiled again and started to tug his shirt up again as she pulled her hand back, “But only if you promise to show me your wings,” Lili thought to tell him that she wouldn’t, just so he wouldn’t show her the slugs, but she swallowed a bit and nodded, “Good. I’m holding you to that,” she saw his shirt raise up and she turned her head away. There was a strange noise that followed. It sounded like wet skin clapping together. Gurgling noises too. It made her stomach turn a little bit, “You need to turn around if you want to see them.”

She took a deep breath and looked over at him. She almost immediately turned back away and tried to keep from gagging, “Sorry. I just...”

“Oh, you’re going to hurt their feelings,” she heard something that sounded like cooing or purring.

She looked over at him again and just stared. Where most guys had a gut, he had a clear plating over his stomach. She could see right into it. Behind it was what looked like a ball of squirming, dark flesh. Suddenly, there were three, large red eyes staring out at her from the clear plating and she took a step back, “Oh god...” the strangest mutants she’d ever seen were Kurt, Toad, and Morph. All of which weren’t that strange, other than Kurt’s fur and tail. But this was beyond her ability to absorb mentally.

“Now, now, Eany, don’t get upset. She’s never seen anyone like us before,” he talked to the creature and tapped the front of the platting. She went wide eyed as the creature plastered it’s mouth against the plating and seemed to try to lick his fingers, “See, they aren’t bad. Lovely, aren’t they?”

“Uh...I...” Lili wasn’t sure what to say. She didn’t want to insult him, but lovely wasn’t the word she would have used. Disgusting. Gross. Horrid. Awful. But not lovely. She watched as his fingers moved to the edges of the plating and she realized he was going to open it. He was going to let those things out, “I don’t think that’s a good idea right now,” she moved forward and grabbed his hand with one hand and started tugging his shirt down with the other, “Maybe some other time.”

“You sure?” he asked softly.

“Y-yeah. I’m sure,” she smiled lightly, “Before we leave. I promise, I’ll meet them a little more personally,” though she had a feeling she would regret that promise.

“Alright then,” he started tucking his shirt back into his pants, “Going to show me those wings now? Promise is a promise.”

Lili was okay with that. At least that way, it meant that she didn’t have to see those things for a while longer, “Right...”

“Why do you fight so much against showing them to us?”

She thought about that for a moment as she reached up to her inducer. Her fingers played with it as she thought about it, “Cause I have to hold onto something. You all know who I am, what I can do, where I’m from, and despite the kind treatment, I am a prisoner here. At least technically,” she shrugged a bit, “I had to keep something.”

Her fingers found the button for the inducer, but one of his hands clasped around hers, “If you don’t want to, you don’t have to.”

“It’s okay. I promised and I try to keep my promises,” she clicked the button and her wings became visible for him. They were different from how they were when she first got to the institute over a year ago. When she met Kurt on the train, they were molting and dying. She couldn’t even move them. They were disfigured and useless. Nothing the Professor did with her before going to Asteroid M made them even twitch, “They didn’t always look this nice,” she admitted.

Now her wings were strong. The six appendages stretched out. They were slow growing, but the two smaller wings were getting larger. The feathers were bright white and soft. It had taken months after getting back to the institute to get the blood stains out of the feathers, “They’re quite nice.”

He walked around her, looking the wings over. She arched her back as she felt his fingers stroke the smallest pair of her wings, “Please don’t touch them,” she muttered. It brought up thoughts of Toad. Whenever he wanted more out of their kissing, he would stroke her wings or between them.

“Rules, rules,” he chuckled and removed his hand, “Why so many?”

“Rules are usually put in place for a reason. Just like warning labels. Someone did something to cause them.”

“What is the reason for yours?” he smiled.

“I’ll tell you that when I’m willing to touch those,” she pointed over at his stomach.


	22. Chapter 22

Their life among the Morlocks was short lived. All of them held their own and, amazingly, didn’t cause trouble. Even Jamie eventually warmed up. Scott told her that they got the Professor back and Mystique was gone, hopefully for good. He even said that the school was going to let them all come back, though the Brotherhood had been told not to come back. He said that the Professor was worried about them.

Lili convinced them not to start some kind of rescue mission. She managed to convince Callisto to let the younger mutants go back to the mansion, so long as she stayed a while longer. She told the leader of the Morlocks that the younger students had families that were worried about them and if they stayed down there much longer, then the police might get involved. She made sure to let Callisto know that the only person who were concerned for her was the Professor. Callisto apparently knew the Professor well enough to know that he didn’t have to talk over a communicator to get in contact with Lili.

“I knew you would stay,” Japheth said with a smile as they watched the other students head up the manhole.

She turned to reply, but a familiar blue, fuzzy head poked down, “Lili, the others said you’re staying. Why?” Kurt asked as he eyed Japheth.

“It’s okay, Kurt. I made a deal with Callisto. She lets the kids go and I stay another week. I’ll be back in a week. I promise. The Professor already knows. So go take the others home. I’ll be fine,” she smiled and waved to him a bit.

“...Okay...” he seemed hesitant to go, but he nodded and the manhole cover slid back into place.

“Oh, that is sad. I only get you for another week,” the tall make chuckled.

“I told you before, I’m not staying,” she smiled and started back to the Morlock’s den with him.

He walked beside her, looking her over a bit, “I’m just not sure why you’re not staying? You told Callisto that the only person concerned for you was the Professor. Are you sure there is no one else concerned for you?”

Lili shook her head, “No. There isn’t...I mean, the other X-Men will be, but they know I can take care of myself. And why do you keep asking me about the people who care about me? Are you planning on killing me and ditching the body somewhere?” it was a joke and she hoped he took it that way.

“Of course not. It would be a sin to kill an angel,” he placed his hand over his heart and smiled.

“Oh please. I’m hardly an angel and you know that,” she hated when people referred to her that way. Angels were pretty things, and fake. Lili wasn’t pretty and she was real.

“Lili, if no one is out there to be concerned about you, then why will you not even consider staying with me?”

“With you? I thought I would be staying for the Morlocks?” the whole conversation was starting to make her uncomfortable, “You know what, don’t answer that.”

He put his hands up defensively, “Alright. I may not understand it, but I suppose that doesn’t matter,” he started to walk ahead of her and she saw the frown on his face.

Lili didn’t need this right now. She’d already been down here almost two weeks. She’d got to know the Morlocks well in her time down here. They were good people. They wanted to stay safe. They took care of each other. Sadly, many of them were very weak. Japheth was right in telling her before that they needed strong mutants down here to take care of them. Especially now. It wouldn’t be long before the public found out the Morlocks were down here. Yet she couldn’t bring herself to want to stay.

Japheth reminded her of Morph in a lot of ways. He was sweet and he liked to talk. They’d got to know each other well. She even told him about Morph, though not about his death. Any time Japheth asked why he wasn’t here with her, she just said that he couldn’t be. That he wasn’t a part of her life anymore. The tall mutant told her that was sad to hear, but that he was glad she was here with him now. It made her uncomfortable and she usually ended the conversation there.

Another thing she hadn’t talked to him about was Toad. She just didn’t want to bring it up. It still made her chest hurt when she thought about seeing him sitting next to Wanda on the jet and trying to hold her hand. He’d done it right in front of her. He knew how much she liked him and he’d done it anyway. There were a couple of times that Japheth got her talking that she wanted to bring it up, just to talk about and get it off her chest how angry she was, but she always convinced herself not to do it. The last thing she wanted was the pity of someone she barely knew.

“Japheth, I do want you to understand. If I could tell you, I would, but it’s complicated and personal,” she reached out and grabbed his arm. She didn’t want this discussion happening where the others could hear.

He shook his head, “If you want me to understand, then tell me. What could be more personal than you telling me about your father drugging you and sending you off to a mad man?”

Lili knew he was right. By comparison, that did seem like a bigger deal. She knew she wanted to talk about Toad. She was angry and upset every time she thought about the hopping mutant, “Fine. I’ll tell you, a little bit, but not here. I don’t want the others to hear about it,” the Morlocks used these tunnels and she didn’t want any of them to overhear. Last thing she needed was to be the focus of any kind of gossip, “Is there anywhere else we can go?”

“Well...Callisto doesn’t want you wandering too far...but there are places we can go,” he smiled and started to lead her away from the Morlocks den. They walked through several tunnels before he motioned for her to sit. It was a small area. It looked like and old station room. She could hear the subway through the wall and figured this used to be a part of it, “Some of the younger ones like to come here to get some privacy.”

“Ah...I see...” she smiled as she found a ledge on the wall to sit on.

“So...want to talk?” he took a seat next to her, “Maybe explain some of those rules you have and why you have them?”

“I guess...” Lili still wasn’t sure if she was comfortable talking about Toad. She’d told Morph a little about him, but it was different now. With Morph, it was just petty anger from thinking a guy liked her when he didn’t. But now it was more personal. They’d been more intimate this time. She’d spent a lot of time alone with him. Kissing, touching, and feeling, “I wasn’t lying when I said that the Professor was the only one who would really be concerned about me. I wish he wasn’t the only one, but I know he is.”

“Is there someone specifically that you wished was concerned about you?”

Licking her lips and sighing, she nodded lightly, “Yeah...”

“A guy?” to which her only response was to nod, “I see. Bad break up?”

“You could say that. I know I shouldn’t be worried about it or upset about it. I’m the one that broke it off with him...but I’m upset about it. I was stupid,” she shook her head and looked down at her lap.

Japheth reached over and touched one of her hands, “Why did you break up with him? There had to be a reason.”

“It was a lot of things. He’s not the nicest guy in the world...”

“Did he hurt you?”

She chuckled a little, “Not physically. I really brought it on myself,” he looked at her curiously and she shook her head again, “He never hid the fact that he didn’t really like me. He’s like me, you know...not very pleasant to look at and his mutation is pretty harsh. We both figured it would be nice to have some kind of companionship.”

“So you settled for each other. I’ve seen that happen a lot down here. Better to have someone than to have no one,” she wondered, as he said that, if he’d been in relationships like that. Without knowing his mutation, she felt he was an attractive man. If he didn’t have two, large slugs living inside of him, he could probably get any woman he wanted, “What happened?”

“...I liked him. I didn’t want to be with him just because no one else wanted me. I wanted to be with him because I liked him. I should have known better than to let myself get that happy with him. It made me feel really good when he kissed me or when he’d touch my wings or my back...for a little while, I thought he liked me the way I liked him. We spent time together almost every day. We even talked about telling people about our relationship.”

“That doesn’t sound bad,” he rubbed her hand lightly.

“It doesn’t...but he didn’t like me. He just wanted to take care of himself. Then I found out he liked someone else. Someone a heck of a lot stronger than me and that much prettier too. I was gonna ignore it, but he promised me that we were going to go on a real date. He bought movie tickets and even held my hand while we walked there...”

“Did you two fight or something?”

“Not at first. He sat with me for a little bit and said he had to go. I thought he was just going to the bathroom, but he didn’t come back. He left me alone there. All so he could go fight my friends with _her_. And then when we were going into the city, he kept staring at her. He never looked at me once. After the fight, I tried to talk to him, but he ignored me. He went right over to her and tried to hold her hand,” it was upsetting, but it did feel kind of good to talk about it.

“He did that while you two were still together?”

“No...the movie and ditching me, yes...but I broke it off with him after that. I told him to just leave me alone. I shouldn’t be upset that he wouldn’t look at me or that he tried to sit with her. I told him to leave me alone. I should have known that he would act that way. That’s how he is. He looks out for himself. He had a bad life and that’s how he is...” she laughed a little bit at herself, “Even with all of that, I still think about him. I miss him a little bit. I wish I could see him. That’s messed up, isn’t it?”

He didn’t answer right away, but when he did, he let out a deep breath, “Yes it is. You knew he didn’t like you from the beginning, but you thought that you liking him would be enough. But it never is.”

“No. It’s not,” she admitted as she leaned over and rested on his shoulder.

He stroked her arm lightly and leaned down to kiss the top of her head, “I like you.”

Lili smiled a little, “But I don’t like you. At least not that way.”

“That’s alright. We’ll just be friends. Maybe, one day, you’ll change your mind,” he smiled and kissed her forehead again.

“When I go back to the institute, will you come visit me?”

“Of course. Maybe I can convince you into that date you were cheated out of,” he chuckled before stretching out a bit, “We should head back before Callisto sends out a search party.”

“Right,” she nodded in agreement, “You know, everyone at school is going to think I’m a psycho.”

“Why?”

“Well, I go missing all last summer, miss the first two weeks of school, then take a personal leave for a few months, get outed as a mutant on television, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to miss another week or two of school,” she laughed as they both climbed to their feet and started back to the den.

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I don’t think you’re a psycho. I think you’re just insane enough,” he teased and she giggled.


	23. Chapter 23

Japheth chuckled as he tossed some water at her, “You jerk. That better not be sewer water,” she giggled. She knew it wasn’t, but that was the first thought in her head, “I’ll kill you if it is.”

“You couldn’t take me if you tried,” he laughed again as he used his fingers to flick more water at her before reaching over and wiping it off of her cheek, “Sorry. I won’t do it again. I promise,” he said with a smile, “But I will do this...” he lunged over a bit and started tickling at the bare spots of her shirt where it opened up to make room for her wings.

“Oh god...” she giggled and pushed at his shoulders, “Stop it, stop it,” she kept giggling till she fell over on her back.

“Lili,” he stopped immediately and started to help her back to a sitting position, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for you to fall.”

She shook her head, “It’s okay,” she leaned over and kissed his cheek lightly, “It’s fun,” he slipped his arm around her shoulders and she nuzzled into his side. It felt nice spending time with him this past week. It felt like being with Morph again or the few nice times with Toad.

“When do you leave?”

“Later today...” she felt a little bad about it. Callisto had offered for her to stay and Japheth had asked her to many times. Callisto said that she would be allowed to roam and wander as she saw fit and not be confined to staying under the streets, but in the end, Lili felt it was best that she go back to the institute. She couldn’t stay here. It wasn’t a bad place, but it wasn’t home. Lili wanted to be with her friends again. She truly believed in what the Professor wanted for them. To be part of society as their equals. Now that mutants were known, she had to be with her friends to remind the rest of the world that mutants weren’t a threat, “Remember, you promised to come visit me.”

“I remember and I will. At least once a week. I am going to miss you though. Who else is going to give me a new rule to follow everyday?”

She chuckled and kissed his cheek, “I’m sure you’ll find someone to order you around. I’m sure Callisto does that enough.”

“That she does, but it’s not the same. But don’t worry about it. You’re right, I’ll find someone else,” he smiled, “Can I at least walk you home? That way your friends don’t have to all come down here?”

Lili thought for a moment before nodding, “That sounds like a good idea.”

***

They headed through the city, ignoring any and all looked they got from people that now knew she was a mutant. She took a deep breath when she saw that the mansion was still a wreck. There were signs that a construction crew had been there. There were even a few signs that the rebuild was well on it’s way. It wasn’t going to be an easy build and now that everyone had a good idea of what went on here, it would be hard to get it back the way it was before, “You sure you want to stay here? I don’t see where you will be living...” he asked as he looked through the gate.

“We have underground rooms. Elevator over there,” she pointed off to the distance, “It takes you down to the infirmary and the training rooms. We’re probably all staying down there.”

“I see. You could have just stayed underground with the Morlocks instead,” he teased, “Speaking of which, I should head back.”

She nodded and started towards the gate before turning back to him, “Japheth,” he stopped and looked over at her, “You know...I never did get to meet them. Eany and Meany,” he gave her a confused look, “I promised I would before I left, but I didn’t. I told you before that I like to keep my promises...so I should meet them.”

“That is sweet, Lili, but I don’t want you doing something you’re not comfortable with. That is why I didn’t mention it,” he smiled lightly.

“Well...” she started as she took a few steps towards him, “I wasn’t very keen on the idea at first, but I’m pretty sure I saw some rats down there that were bigger than them. So I think I can handle it. At least I can so long as they don’t jump at me or anything.”

“I promise they won’t,” he chuckled, “They are a lot like cats. When I come to visit you next week, we’ll let you three have a little meet and greet.”

“Why wait?” she wondered if she was going to regret this, “The others can wait a little while longer for me to come back. There’s a clearing the trees by my school. People never go by there,” it didn’t even enter her mind that Toad and she had used that spot.

He reached out and touched her hand, “You sure about this?”

“Yeah...mostly...Yeah, I am,” she nodded and bit her lip thinking about it, “You said they’re like cats. I like cats...sort of,” she was more of a bird person when it came down to it, “I can handle it,” Lili smiled and wrapped her hand around his.

“If you’re sure, then lead the way.”

Lili thought about it for another moment before nodding again, “Yeah, I’m sure.”

During the walk, he gave her a few rules and warnings about the slugs. He said that he could control them to an extent. That the only thing she had to remember was not to put her hands under their mouths. He could tell them not to lunge at her, crawl over her, or drool on her; but he said if she so freely offered her hand to their mouths, chances were that they were going to take a bite.

They got to the clearing and they both settled down on the ground, “You sure about this?” he asked as he started untucking his shirt.

“Oh yeah. Totally,” it sounded as if she were trying to convince herself.

“Okay,” he smiled as he pulled his shirt up and she bit her lower lip looking at the clear plating over his stomach. She could see the two slugs squirming around. Lili wondered if he let them wander around the sewers at night while the other Morlocks were sleeping. She kind of wondered if he used them to spy on people. Had they been in her room while she was sleeping at all down there? Lili hoped not.

Her body stiffened and she froze as he started pulling the plating open. She wanted to tell him to stop, that she’d changed her mind and didn’t want those things out or near her, but she didn’t. Lili held her breath and bit her tongue to keep from saying anything. She’d survived being kidnapped, brainwashed, tossed around like a rag doll, numerous broken bones, breaking up with her first boyfriend, fighting a giant robot, and living in the sewers with people that could have chosen to kill her. Certainly she could handle two over sized bugs, “...cats...just like cats...slimy, gooey cats...” she muttered quietly to herself as he popped the platting open.

It was horrifying to watch them come out of his body. It was like some really gory movie. Like someone had just cut him open and his guts were spilling out. Except there wasn’t any blood and he wasn’t screaming in pain. The two creatures were cooing and purring as they fell out of his open abdomen. She stared into the black hole that was his stomach. There wasn’t anything there. No organs at all. All she could do was stare and put her hand up to her mouth to try and hide some of the look of shock.

It wasn’t till she felt something nudging her foot and purring that she realized that the two slugs had inched their way over to her. She jumped a little and pulled her foot back. Japheth seemed to think that was funny and started laughing, “Sorry, Eany likes girls,” he said with a smile, “Meany is a little more picky about people,” he leaned over and picked the one she assumed was Meany up.

Meanwhile, Eany inched closer to her again, trying to get her to put her foot back out where he could explore it, “He’s not trying to eat me, is he?”

“Oh no,” he pet Meany like it was a cat, “He just wants to get to know you. He might want to eat your shoe though, so I would suggest keeping it on to discourage him.”

“I’ll keep that in mind...” she muttered as it got closer to her leg and she scooted back on the ground till she was pressed against a tree. The slug’s big red eyes, all three of them, looked up at her and it made the strangest noise, “I really think it wants to eat me.”

Japheth laughed again, “He’s not going to eat you. They rarely eat living things,” cause that was settling to hear, “He’s upset because you won’t let him near you. Like I said, he likes girls. Especially ones that he knows I like,” he smiled and she blushed a little, “He probably wants to eat a piece of your clothing.”

“Why?”

“Because, whatever they eat, they pass along the energy of that thing to me. They also pass along any psychic imprints that were attached with the object. Eany wants to eat some of your clothing so he can see what type of person you are and pass that along to me. He wants me to know your thoughts, feelings, and memories. At least the ones you have that you’ve worn that outfit for.”

Lili didn’t want that happening. Callisto had been nice enough to send one of her people up to get some of their things from the institute. Kitty had thrown her tunic in the bag, the one she wore to the dance where she and Toad got back together. She didn’t want anyone knowing about any of that, “I don’t think I want anyone having my memories. I have a hard enough time with them.”

“Eany, nie eet nie iets van haar. Sy is 'n vriend,” he spoke in the strange language she’d heard him speak in before. Japheth explained that it was called Afrikaans. It still amazed her that there were so many mutants from so many places. 

The slug near her feet cooed pitifully and stopped it’s advance on her. Instead, it curled up and purred near her feet, “What did you tell him?”

“I told him not to eat anything from you, because you’re a friend. He’s not happy and thinks I should let him to make sure that you’re a good person, but I know you are,” he smiled and set Meany on the ground, who crawled to join Eany, “I bet if you pet him, Eany would be quite happy.”

“Pet?” she looked down at the creatures and Eany looked up at her with those big, ruby like eyes, “They don’t have anything toxic in their skins, do they?”

“No. Just their mouths and that’s more digestive acids rather than toxic,” which didn’t put her at ease any.

Lili swallowed hard as she looked down at them again. Eany inched to her for a moment before looking at her again. He really did seem to want petted. She had a feeling it was going to make her throw up, but she reached a hand out slowly. Her fingertips touched just above the third, center eye on the creature’s head. She was expecting the shiny skin to be slimy and gross, like Toad’s tongue, but it wasn’t. It was soft and fleshy, but it was dry. Kind of like touching her own stomach. It was just soft, warm, and smooth.

Smiling a little, she starting petting Eany. He seemed to like it as he nuzzled up into her hand. It really was like a cat. A bald one, but still a cat. She guessed they really weren’t that bad. At least she felt so till she heard a growl and Meany lunged up at her. She gasped and smacked her head into the tree trunk as it jumped at her face. It grabbed her image inducer and ripped it right off her neck and swallowed it.

Lili sat there stunned as Japheth rushed over and grabbed the attacking slug and started to scold it, “Meany, how could you?! I’m so disappointed in you! Lili is our friend! How dare you!” he smacked the creature on the forehead and it whimpered, “Lili, I’m so sorry,” he knelt down next to her and scooped Eany up in his free hand, “Are you alright?”

“Y-yeah...” somehow, having a giant slug that could eat anything lunging at her face was more scary than a giant robot with guns trying to kill her. It really was like a horror movie now. Except the monster was physically a part of the hero, “It...it ate my inducer...”

“I’m really sorry, Lili. Eany likes girls, but Meany gets jealous sometimes. I didn’t think she would get that way since you were so hesitant of them. I should have kept her back till you got to know her better,” he popped open the plating on his stomach and set Meany back in, who looked at her and growled before he pulled his shirt back down. As for Eany, he set the slug on the ground and gave it some kind of order in his language. It started to slide off away from them, “Are you sure you’re alright?”

“Yeah. I am. I was just...surprised. This isn’t good though...” she looked over to see her wings, “I can’t walk back to the institute like this. Everyone will see me...” though she supposed it wasn’t that big of a deal anymore. The whole school probably knew what she looked like now. Still, she didn’t want to draw the attention, “Any chance she can cough it back up?”

“I’m afraid not. It’s probably half digested by now.”

Which brought another worry to her mind. She hadn’t wanted Eany getting a piece of her shirt so that Japheth wouldn’t find out about her first time really kissing with Toad. Her original inducer had been destroyed, by herself, on the Asteroid, but this one had more memories attached to it. Would he really be able to see everything? If so, she kind of wanted to find a way to make Meany cough it up. She wore it everywhere. Even if she was in a fight and had it turned off, she always had it on. She even swam and showered with it on. Lili wore it every time Toad and she were together, “...oh god...” she groaned.

“It’s alright. We can just wait here till it’s dark and I can walk you back. Or, you can come back to the Morlocks for the night and we can contact the Professor,” he sat down next to her and put an arm around her shoulder. She could hear Meant growling from under his shirt. She wondered if Meany could see the memories from her inducer. Would she be upset that her ‘Master’ had feelings for a girl that had been with another guy? Would she try to attack Lili again if given the chance?

“No. It’s okay. We can walk back now...”

“Then what are you so worried about?”

“Ummmm...well...You said that...you absorb the memories and stuff from the things they eat,” he nodded in response, “...I wore that everywhere. I never had it off.”

“Well, if you’re really concerned about those things, you could just jump the gun and tell me what I’m in for.”

“What do you mean?”

“If you’re embarrassed about me seeing something, then just tell it to me now. Why not tell me now instead of wondering what I know later on?”

That did make some sense. She didn’t want to, but it still made sense, “I guess...”

“So, what all am I in for?”

“I showered with it on, slept with it on, swam with it on, trained with it on, I even changed in school with it on,” she looked over and saw the grin on his face, “Oh don’t make that face. Trust me, it’s not worth seeing.”

“I supposed I can be the judge of that for myself,” he teased, “But is that all? Those aren’t that embarrassing.”

“Maybe not for you...” she frowned, “I happen to avoid showing myself off whenever I can,” Lili crossed her arms and sighed, “But no, that’s not all. I told you, I never took it off. I even wore it when me and that guy were together.”

“So you wore it while you made love to him?”

Lili’s cheeks turned red and she shook her head, “No! God no...we never did that. I’ve never done that. We just...we did a lot together. A lot of kissing and I let him put his hands up my shirt a lot. I did something for him once,” but she couldn’t make herself elaborate on it even though she had a feeling he’d find out on his own, “You said you can get feelings off of the stuff they eat too...I don’t want you to know all of that stuff. It’s really private...”

He leaned over and kissed the side of her head, “I can’t promise you that I won’t see or feel anything. Nor can I promise you what I will see. There’s a chance that I’ll see very little. There’s even a chance that I won’t get anything from it. But I promise that whatever I see or feel from it, I won’t judge you for. No matter the feelings anyway, there is nothing to be embarrassed about when it comes to your feelings. You liked that guy and even though I don’t really want the full details of what you two may or may not have done together, I won’t be upset over them. That, I can promise.”

It wasn’t like she had much of a choice in the matter anyway, “...okay...” she sighed and moved up against him, “Do you only get the feelings of the things that they eat for you? Or can you sense them in other ways?”

“Mostly, and most clearly, when I absorb them from Eany and Meany. But I can in other ways too. Not memories though. I have to take those from Eany and Meany. Why do you ask?”

She shook her head, “Just wondering. We should head back to the institute. I don’t want the Professor worrying about me.”

Lili said her good bye to him after he promised to come see her every Saturday. She promised to try to get along with Meany, but didn’t promise that it would work out. She didn’t have time to worry about what feelings or memories he might see of her once she got to the underground portion of the institute.

Instead of that, she was bombarded with questions and filled in on news. Apparently, several of the students were gone. Their parents were furious about what happened and took their children home, refusing to believe that this was the safest place for them. Also, they were all invited back to school for the next year. There had been a big debate about it and Principal Kelly had been against it. The Brotherhood had shown up and started a big fight, but in the end, they were allowed to come back and finish their schooling provided none of them use any of their powers on school property.

“What was it like down there? I bet it was totally gross. I can’t believe people actually live down there,” while the mansion was being rebuilt above them, they were bunking with each other underground. Lili was sharing a room with Rouge, Kitty, and Jean.

“Actually, it wasn’t that bad. They were really nice. They’re just scared. Most of them are really weak and just want to stay safe. Callisto teaches them to survive and she makes sure no one hurts them. And it was kind of gross, but they kept it clean where they lived,” which was true. It wasn’t like they were laying in garbage or drinking sewer water. If it wasn’t for their mutations, they would be living like normal people. Mole people, but still people.

“So, who was the cutie that dropped ya off?” Rogue asked with a smirk, “Now that is one tall hunk,” she teased and Lili blushed.

“That’s Japheth. He is like Callisto’s body guard or something. He’s really strong and his mutation is weird,” she wasn’t about to explain the slugs, “But he wants to keep the Morlocks safe. He’s really nice. He wanted me to stay with the Morlocks. Said they could use strong mutants like me to keep the others safe. Especially now with the us being out to the public,” she ignored the small glances the others gave her. She knew what they were thinking. They wanted to know how Japheth could think she was strong, “I’m sure he meant strong willed. Willing to stand up for others and stuff...”

Kitty smirked, “So, you gonna see him again?”

“He’s going to come visit. He promised he would. Like I said, he’s really nice.”

Kitty giggled and leaned over close, “Do you like him? More than someone else?”

Lili knew just who the other girl was talking about and didn’t want to bring it up, “You know, it’s getting late. We should probably get some sleep. Logan wants us all ready in the morning for training.”

“Oh that’s right...He’s gonna kill us if we’re tired,” Jean commented, “Lights out girls,” she flicked the light switch off and the four of them settled into their beds.

Kitty didn’t seem to want to let it go yet though and whispered, somewhat loudly, “So, do you like him?”

“...I don’t really want to talk about it, Kitty.”

“I didn’t want to tell you, but I guess it would be bad of me not to...Toad asked about you the other day. He followed us all around the mall till we talked to him. He wanted to know if you were okay, cause you weren’t around. We didn’t tell him where you were,” Lili buried her head into the pillow as the other girl talked about it, “Lili, if that guy likes you, you should give him a chance. If he’s really nice, then what do you have to lose? Toad is a complete jerk. Why waste your time thinking about him if you have a great guy around? I gave up on Lance, so I think you should give up on Toad. They’re not going to change. Not even for us.”

“Thanks for the advice, Kitty...but like I said, I don’t wanna talk about it.”

With that, she turned her back to the other girl and tried to get some sleep. She told herself that the only reason Toad had asked about her was because he was probably expecting her to come crawling back and wanting to just go back to the way they were before.

Back to her knowing that he was just settling for her, while he was in love with some other girl. Lili refused to do it to herself. She also refused to do it to Japheth. She didn’t want to get close to him and have him find out that she still thought about Toad and even missed him.

Toad was wrong. It wasn’t better to just sleep with the enemy, rather than be alone. Lili decided she would rather be alone, rather than know she wasn’t good enough.

Kitty had told her before they flew into the city that they were just teenagers. There was no reason for them to decide right now who to settle with. There were probably thousands of mutants in the world. Toad was not the person she had to settle for and Japheth didn’t have to settle for her.

Lili decided, that after this upcoming school year, she was leaving the institute. She’d spend the year learning to fly from Angel and then after graduation, she’d take off on her own. Maybe even visit her parents and show them how wrong they were for thinking she was sick. The whole world knew about them now, so there was no reason not to travel now. She’d spent the first sixteen years of her life trapped in a house and now it was time to spread her wings.


	24. Chapter 24

School got off to a rough start. Everyone knew they were mutants now. They knew that everyone from the institute was some kind of ‘freak’. Several of them were even mad about it. Lili had few friends outside of the institute, but the few she did talk with looked at her like she’d broken their trust. Like it was detestable that she befriend them without letting them know just how much of a freak she was.

Fights broke out almost daily. It was near impossible to keep some of the younger mutants from using their powers. They all felt the need to prove themselves and show the non-mutants that they weren’t scared of them. Even some of the older mutants had trouble controlling themselves. Spyke was getting into trouble more than ever before.

About the only thing that calmed Spyke down was skateboarding. They were all supporting him in a contest that was coming up next week. At first, the competition didn’t want to let him join since they knew he was a mutant and didn’t want him sponsoring their company, but in the end, they never expected him to actually do well. Nor could they keep him out because there was no law to do so.

Today was the semi-finals and most of the X-Men were in the stands cheering Spyke on. Kitty was on one side of the bleacher fighting with Lance, while Lili was on the other fighting with Toad. They were telling the boys the same things, basically, though she was sure Kitty’s was a bit more heartfelt, “Toad, I told you, I don’t want to see you anymore. I told you that after the fight at the mall, I told you that at the institute, and I’ve told it to you at least once a week all summer.”

“Come on, Babe. I miss ya. Don’t ya miss me at all?” he moved up close to her and tried to put his arms around her waist, but she pushed him back.

“No. I don’t,” it was a mild lie, “You don’t like me, you never have, so just go away.”

“But I’m lonely...” he whined. Lili wondered how she’d put up with him. He always whined and it was a little annoying, “Remember. Sleepin’ with the enemy is better than sleepin’ alone. I’ll even take ya on a date. No ditchin’ this time. I promise.”

“No, Toad and you know what? I’d rather sleep alone...” she shook her head and started to head back towards her friends.

“You ain’t sleepin’ alone. Your with that guy. The big red one. Ain’t ya?” he actually sounded upset with the idea that she might have moved on.

Turning back to him, she glared, “Not that it’s any of your business, but no. I’m not with him. He’s just a friend, but if I did want him, I know he wouldn’t mind. Because he likes me, Toad. He takes me to a movie and sits through the whole thing. He talks to me in public. He tells me how much he likes me. We’re friends. Nothing more.”

“If he likes you, why don’t you just go out with him?”

“Because, I don’t like him the way he does me. I know how much it hurts to be with someone that doesn’t like you back. Like I said, I’d rather be alone.”

“So you do still like me?” he smirked and she shook her head in annoyance, “That’s not a no...Come on, let’s go back to my room and we’ll make up for all of this. Look, Kitty and Lance are making up...”

She looked over and saw the brunette girl with her arms around the other guys neck and Lili sighed. Apparently Lance was a better sweet talker than Toad was, “That doesn’t change things between us. Because I’m not willing to be the person you settle for.”

“You were before...I don’t see what the big deal is now...” he pouted. Lili wanted to think that he was trying so hard because he really wanted to be with her, but she couldn’t make herself believe it. Toad just wanted her because he didn’t think he could do any better.

“It is a big deal, Toad. It doesn’t matter if I like you or not. The fact is that I don’t want to be with someone who doesn’t like me the same way I do them. It doesn’t matter if you get it or not. Just leave me alone.”

“...but what if no one else wants me...?”

“I’m sorry, Toad, but that’s not my problem,” she turned to walk away again and he didn’t stop her this time.

Lili felt like she was going to cry as she walked back towards her friends. She hated that she wanted to make things work with Toad. It felt self destructive to want to be with him. Lili wasn’t sure if Morph had liked her romantically, but she’d liked him. And she knew that Japheth liked her, but she didn’t feel that way back. Toad wasn’t good for her and it wouldn’t be good to lead Japheth on. Lili knew the best thing for her was just to avoid it altogether and just focus on herself.

***

Lili was laying in her bed doing homework. She had a lot of work to do. She had enough credits that she could possibly graduate early. She’d already talked to the Professor about wanting to leave the institute. He said he would be sad to see her go since several of the younger mutants looked up to her, but he also said that the point of the institute was to prepare them for life. Lili wasn’t very strong, but she could take care of herself. He told her to just ask him if there was anything he, or the others, could do for her. At the moment, she couldn’t think of anything.

It was getting late and she started putting her books away and went to close the window before heading to bed. Before she could get it closed, someone came jumping through it and tackled her down, “What the...?!” she shouted and looked up to see Toad atop her, “Toad! Get off!” she kicked and flailed her hands in front of her.

“Don’t yell,” he snapped as he pinned her to the floor by her shoulders, “I need to talk to you.”

“Don’t tell me what to do!” she snapped back and twisted to try to throw him off, but he didn’t budge, “I’m gonna bust your eardrums!” even if she didn’t, everyone was going to be in here anyway if she kept shouting.

“It’s important. Please...” that got her to stop kicking. Toad never said ‘please’ to her before, “Please. Just let me talk...”

“Fine...make it quick...and get off of me...” she sighed as she twisted her hips again and he slid off her body, “What do you want?” she climbed to her feet and started for her bed, “I have tests to study for, so make it fast,” she wanted to graduate early and get out of here. She loved the institute and the other X-Men, but she just knew that it was time to move on. Japheth said she should come stay with the Morlocks, but she knew that wasn’t for her either.

He came up behind her and ran his fingers over her shoulders, “I miss you...” before she could shrug his hands off, she felt his lips touching one of them and moving around the back of her neck.

“Toad, that’s not talking. If you’re not gonna talk to me, then...” but she stopped for a second as his fingers started rubbing into the muscles on the back of her shoulders. She’d started her training with Angel and it always left her sore afterwards, “...oh...” she groaned a little as he massaged, “Toad, don’t do that...” she muttered.

He didn’t stop though. His fingers kept rubbing and he kept kissing. It felt nice. All she could think about was how nice it was to be close to him like this again. Lili couldn’t help but wonder if she explained to him that she was leaving in a few months, then maybe they could handle just spending time intimately. They were both almost adults, she would be eighteen in a month. She could handle it so long as he understood that it wasn’t going to be long lasting, “Do you like that?” her only response was a small nod as one of his hands stroked down the center of her back, “Can I ask you somethin’?”

“Yeah,” she swallowed hard and pressed back against him. Japheth tried to hold her and even tried to kiss her once, but it didn’t feel right. Lili knew that, one day, she would get over Toad. She also knew that she wouldn’t get over him while she was here.

One of his hands slipped over the front of her shoulder and rubbed her chest a bit before clasping around her imagine inducer. The other hand was rubbing the soft spots between her wings. His lips kept kissing at the back of her neck. Lili’s stomach felt tight as she thought about what they were doing. Just a few days before, she was telling herself how destructive it was to like him and snapping at him to just leave her alone. Now she wanted to turn around and ask him to be her first.

His cold fingers played with the inducer and she figured he was going to turn it off like he always did. Instead, he moved his lips up to her ear and she smiled shyly as he kissed her earlobe, “Can I borrow this?”

It felt like getting splashed in the face with ice cold water. Her eyes went wide with confusion and she craned her head over to look at him, “What?”

“Your inducer thingie. Can I borrow it? Just for, like, a day or two. I’ll bring it back.”

“What would you need my inducer for?” she started to pull away from him, but he wrapped an arm around her waist and nuzzled into her neck, “Oh my god, this is about Wanda, isn’t it?”

“Does it really matter what it’s for, Babe?” he asked as he tried to kiss at her neck again.

Lili swung her elbow back into his stomach, “You better let go of me right now, Toad,” she growled before slamming her foot down into his. He stumbled back, whimpering a little, “Oh, don’t you start that. I could have hurt you a lot more than that,” which was true, “You have five seconds to get out that window.”

“Wait, just hear me out...” he reached out and she smacked his hand away.

“Five.”

“Please. You don’t understand...”

“Four.”

“Come on, Babe. It’s just for a day. Be reasonable.”

“Three.”

“I swear I’ll bring it back.”

“Two,” she put her hands on her hips and took a deep breath.

“Okay, okay, I’m going...” he huffed as he started towards the window.

“Toad, just so you know, I wanted you to be my first...”

“What?” he turned around to look at her.

“You know...in bed...my first. While you’ve been busy trying to get Wanda to look at you and pay attention to you. I’ve been paying attention to you for a long time. I may not have always been happy and it might have been angry attention sometimes, but I always think about you. I can’t even let Japheth kiss me, because I think of you when he tries. He’s stronger than you, smarter than you, and so much more handsome than you,” Lili hated to think it, but she wanted to hurt Toad. Wanda was all of those things compared to her. She wanted him to know how much it hurt and feel it himself if she could make him, “Yet every time he tries to hug me or kiss me or even tells me that he likes me...I’m so stupid that I sit there and wish it was you. The guy who cares about no one other than himself, doesn’t care how much he has to hurt someone to get what he wants, and doesn’t think about anyone else.”

He stood staring at her for a moment before looking down at his shoes. She felt a little bad having said all of that, but it made her feel a little better to say it, “Lili...”

“It’s a little late for you to start calling me by my name. I think you should go before I decide to scream.”

Toad didn’t respond. He just hopped out the window and she walked over to shut it behind him. Her stomach hurt and she felt like she was going to throw up. Lili told herself that things would be better once she left. The institute was a great place, but while Toad was around, she knew she wouldn’t be as happy as she could be.

***

It was nearly one in the morning and Lili knew she should try to get some sleep, but she just couldn’t. She’d spent every moment since Toad hopped out her window earlier thinking about him. She felt like a complete idiot for letting him get to her like that. All it took was a little shoulder rubbing and a few kisses and she’d been ready to pull him down to her bed. As much as she tried to tell herself that having a guy like her didn’t mean anything, it did. She wanted Toad to like her.

“Ugh...So stupid...” she grumbled as she buried her head under her pillows. She kept telling herself that once she got out on her own, away from him, that things would be different. That had already been proven twice. On Asteroid M, she had thought about Toad, but she felt good with Morph. Down with the Morlocks had been the same with Japheth. And the several times that she’d been forced to stay in the institute, such as after the asteroid, she’d felt much better about herself. Toad wasn’t good for her.

There was a light knock on her door and she popped up for a second, “Who is it?” she got her answer when she heard the familiar popping sound and caught the smell of sulfur, “You okay, Kurt?”

“Ja...Just wanted to give you something,” he walked over to her bed and handed her a small envelope, “Someone wanted me to deliver that to you.”

“Who?” she took it and stared down at it curiously.

“Ah, well...” he reached up and scratched the back of his head, “Someone you would not expect. Just read it. Alright?”

Lili sat up and gave her friend a glance, “Not till you tell me who gave it to you,” a lot of strange things happened around here. Lili wasn’t about to get herself into something.

“...I’m not supposed to say...” he muttered, “...but, he, uh...he hops.”

It took her a second before she rolled her eyes, “So you’re delivering messages for creeps now, huh? Tell him I don’t want it and he can’t use my inducer,” she shoved the letter back into his blue fingered hands.

“Listen, Lili, he’s a creep...but I don’t think he means anyone any harm. He’s just trying to make sense of his life the same way the rest of us are. And I let him borrow my inducer. He wrote this after he used it. I know, because I helped him write it.”

“Seriously? You let him use your inducer? You know he’s just trying to trick Wanda into liking him,” she rolled her eyes and crumpled the letter up in her hands, “I’m not interested in anything he has to say.”

“Alright...but you really should read it. He wasn’t trying to trick Wanda. Well, maybe a little at first...but he had good intentions,” the blue boy gave her a small smile, “Really, you should read it. If you do, I’ll tell you why he really needed our inducers.”

“No thanks...” she tossed it across the room and it rolled under her desk, “I don’t want to know.”

He shrugged a little bit, “I tried.”

“Hey, Kurt...if you could graduate early, would you?”

“Not a chance. Why? You’re not considering it, are you?”

“I’m thinking about it. I’m grateful the Professor brought me here, but I think it’s time for me to move on. Boom Boom never felt like she fit in here...and I don’t think I do either. Unlike her, I don’t have the explosive personality to make up for it.”

“Or the explosives in general,” to which she nodded in agreement, “Don’t you want to stand up in front of Kelly and show him how far a mutant can go? Right in front of everybody?”

“I think Jean and Scott can handle that on their own. You and Kitty will do that next year. Whether Kelly likes it or not, he’s going to have mutants graduating from his school for years. He’s got at least until Jamie graduates,” and that was provided the Professor didn’t take in mutants after that, which she highly doubted.

“Yeah, I guess...We’ll miss you. Where will you go?”

Lili shrugged a little, “Don’t know yet, but I promise to stay in contact. I’ve talked to Japheth about it and the Professor and Callisto. Callisto says that some of her group are thinking about going to Genosha. Japheth says he’s heard of it, but never been there.”

“That place that advertises on TV to being mutant friendly? Seems kinda cheesy to me. Like they want people taking pictures of mutants and stuff, like it’s fun to do.”

“Yeah, but it doesn’t seem that bad. Nice beaches and stuff,” she smiled.

“So long as you stay in contact and safe, I guess it’s up to you what you want to do. Maybe if they really are as mutant friendly as they say they are, the Professor will take us all their for summer this year,” he smiled back.

“That’d be nice...I should get to sleep. I have some tests in a few hours.”

Lili expected him to push her about the letter, but he didn’t. He just nodded and poofed out. She waved a hand in front of her face to clear out the smoke before climbing back into bed.


	25. Chapter 25

Things changed in the months leading up to the end of the first semester. Jean and Scott were officially together, finally. Amanda’s parents were being more accepting of their daughter dating Kurt. Kitty broke up with Lance again, stating that it was the last time and for good. Rogue had a small meltdown where her powers went out of control, but that was somewhat common to happen around the institute and she was recovering from it.

Among the new recruits, Berzerker was fitting well to be their group leader like Scott was. He ran things a lot differently, but everyone seemed to like him and follow him well. Boom Boom had even come back. The Professor was planning a group trip for a lot of them. Some kind of cruise so that they could relax and take a break from things for a while once winter break started.

Lili felt good about things. Her lessons with Angel had gone very well and she had full use of her wings now. She wasn’t as near as good a flyer or fighter as Angel was, but he said with enough work, she would be. She had the advantage of her sonic scream and claw like nails as well.

The best part was, she hadn’t seen or heard from Toad in nearly two months. No one mentioned him or the Brotherhood. For the most part, the Brotherhood seemed to have gone silent and Lili was perfectly alright with that. It let her think more clearly. She finally decided she would graduate early and told everyone at the institute. They were all happy for her. She was even able to decide what she wanted to do once she graduated.

Things were getting difficult for most mutants. Callisto was worried for her Morlocks. Through the help of Angel and the Professor, they were able to put together enough money to buy a boat trip to Genosha for several of the Morlocks. Japheth was going with them and Lili had decided to go too. The Professor wanted her to report back with information on whether the place really was mutant friendly or not. She figured it would be a good place to start her new life while still being among friends...and it meant time with Japheth.

“I got a present for you,” the tall, red mutant came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. He held up a card, “I hope you like it.”

Without Toad being around to constantly remind her of her feelings for him, she found it easier to accept Japheth’s advances. She finally broke down, with the help of advice from every female mutant in the institute that followed him around like a lovesick puppy when he visited her, and decided to give it a shot. Lili realized she didn’t have to be madly in love with him right off the bat to be in a relationship with him.

“What is it?” she smiled as she took the card and wrapped her wings around herself so he could press close against her back. Her hands worked to get the envelope open and she squealed, “Our tickets for Genosha!” she bounced with excitement on her toes, “Did everyone get theirs?”

“Yes. They all came in yesterday. I gave them to the Morlocks who wanted to come with. I just wanted to surprise you with ours,” he smiled and leaned over to kiss her cheek, “It will be two to a room. We’re sharing.”

“Two beds, I hope,” they had got close in the past several months, but Lili was still hesitant about too much physical intimacy.

“Of course. If not, I will sleep on the floor.”

She giggled and leaned back against him, “It’s gonna be great, Japheth. Who all is coming with us?” as far as she knew, the Morlocks hadn’t all completely decided who was going to stay and who was going to go. Like the Professor, Callisto was concerned that Genosha was not as great as it seemed. She didn’t want to send the weakest and most helpless of the Morlocks if it turned out to be a hostile place.

“As far as I know, it will be Erg, Tar Baby, Tommy, Leech, Piper, Scaleface...”

“That’ll make Ray happy to hear. She’s been stalking him again, you know,” she said with a smirk.

“She swears he likes it. Also, Bliss, Feral, Tarquin, and and Samuel.”

“Sammy? Isn’t he a bit young? He’s only ten.”

“Callisto believes that if Genosha really is a good place, then it will be a good place for him and his mutation. If it is a dangerous place, then he is the one most likely to be able to escape easiest. After all, he is the only one that can breath underwater and speak to fish. Erg and Scaleface are going to be taking care of him.”

“True...Seems like a good group,” there were a few that concerned her, but she knew that the other ones would help out. She was most concerned about Tarquin, “Though I’m not so sure Tarquin should be going.”

“He really wants to.”

“I’m surprised. I doubt there will be much that entertains him, but maybe he wants to actually try something new for once,” she was less concerned about his lazy nature as she was about his mutation. There was a reason even the Morlocks didn’t get close to him. His body secreted a hallucinogen fluid that could be absorbed through the skin. A few of the Morlocks had to be cut off from him because they became addicted to it. No one knew what affect it had on non-mutants yet.

“We will just have to see...but try not to worry about it too much. You’re not going there just to check the place out for the Professor and Callisto. You’re going there to start a new life. If they are mutant friendly, you should be able to find a job and actually start a life of your own. One that, I hope, I will still be a part of,” he hugged her tight and she smiled.

“Until I get bored with you,” she teased before pulling away, “But till then...” she pushed up on her tiptoes to kiss his lips softly, “...why don’t we go somewhere private?”

“Won’t the others worry?” he looked around at the rest of the party. Bobby had taken over Kurt’s job of chasing girls around with a sprig of mistletoe. Jean was sitting with Scott by the fire. Logan, Beast, Storm, and the Professor were watching the students from a corner. Kitty was talking with the other girls and they were showing off the new necklaces that Jean had got for all of the girls.

“Naw, they’re busy,” she smiled and slipped her hand into his. With a small tug, she started to pull him from the room.

“Where are we going? Your room?” he teased as he followed.

Lili giggled and nodded, “Yes.”

“Oh, I like the sound of that...” he said with a smirk.

“Don’t be a pervert,” she turned around and hit him lightly in the arm before leading him through the halls.

“Why not? I’ve already seen you naked,” which made her blush. After a few weeks of nerve wrecking worry, she’d finally made him confess as to what exactly he saw from Meany eating her inducer. He admitted to seeing her showering a few times, which was embarrassing enough. Then he admitted to seeing Toad putting his hands up her shirt and even down her pants a few times. That was humiliating, but he swore it didn’t upset him and he never mentioned it past then. Though he did mention seeing her showering and things of that nature from time to time in a teasing manner, “I wouldn’t mind seeing that in person.”

“Well, that’s not happening,” she smiled as she closed the room to her door behind them, “I just want to be alone with you,” Lili walked over and wrapped her arms around his neck, “We’re going to be spending a while alone together on that boat, so we might as well get used to it.”

“You know what would be good for that? I should just stay here every night till we board the ship. Then we can really get used to it. Maybe even narrow it down from two beds to one,” he chuckled a little and leaned down to kiss her.

Lili shook her head, “Not a chance.”

“Spoilsport,” he teased as he pulled her back towards the bed, “Why don’t I give you an idea of what it would be like if we did share a bed?”

“Hmmmm...I might be okay with that, but I doubt it will change my mind,” she gasped as he fell back on the bed, pulling her down with against his chest, “Feel free to try though.”

“Oh, I will, voël.”

“Japheth...I’ve told you not to call me that...” she muttered as he leaned up to kiss her hard.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized before running his fingers down her spine, “It won’t happen again.”

***

“Did you pack your toothbrush? What about your sunscreen? Oh, towels! Are you leaving those heels? Can I borrow them while you’re gone?”

“Kitty, I’m moving out. Not going on vacation,” she said with a roll of her eyes as the bouncy brunette moved around her room.

“I know...it’s just sad. I want to pretend like you’re just going on a trip.”

“Last trip I took, I ended up on an asteroid being brain washed. So I don’t think we want to think of it that way,” they both laughed a little as Lili tossed her suitcase onto the bed, “I can’t believe I got it all in there. Heavy though...” she bit her lower lip as she tried to think if everything in there was necessary.

“Just let Japheth carry it. Isn’t that what having a big, strong man at your beck and call is for?” Kitty teased.

Lili shook her head and unzipped the case, “I guess I don’t really need these,” she pulled out several blank notebooks, pencils, and pens, “I can buy more of those if I need them. Who is moving in here?”

“Uh...I think Amara and Boom Boom.”

“Well, Amara can use these,” she smiled as she headed over to the desk and tossed the notebooks on it.

Kitty walked over and leaned down to pick something off the floor, “What’s this? Looks like a letter,” she started to open it, but Lili snached it away, “What, some kind of love letter from Japheth you don’t want anyone seeing?” the other girl teased.

“No...” her cheeks warmed as she looked at the crumpled envelope. She’d forgotten about it. It was still sealed and waiting to be opened, “Just junk mail...” she went to drop it in the trash, but found it hard to let go. She’d gone weeks without thinking about Toad, but now he was in her head. Lili couldn’t deny being curious as to what the letter said.

Kitty walked over to the window as a car horn honked and Lili took the chance to shove the letter into her suitcase, “Looks like the van is here...Hey, why is some girl with a purple mohawk jumping out and chasing after Berzerker? I’ve never seen him run like that before,” she giggled.

Lili walked over and peeked out as Scaleface tackled Berzerker to the ground, “Oh, she finally got him. She might not want to go to Genosha now.”

The two of them laughed as Japheth came in, “You ready?”

“Yup...did you have to let her jump out at him like that?” she asked as she dragged the suitcase off the bed and he walked over to get it from her.

“Do you think she gave anyone much of a choice?” he perked an eyebrow as he lifted the suitcase over his shoulder. Kitty sighed dreamily as he did so. That seemed to happen a lot when Japheth was around. It made her wonder why he even bothered with her in the first place, but then she remembered Eany and Meany. She knew that would be a big mark against him with women. It even was for her at first, but she’d become somewhat friends with the slugs.

“No. She probably didn’t,” Lili said with a smile, “Why don’t you two go down to the van? I’ll be down in a minute...”

They nodded and left her alone. Lili looked around the room and smiled a little. It had only been two years since she got here, but it felt a lot longer. It was hard to believe that two years ago, she was living in her parents basement, not allowed to even look out the front windows. Now she was running off to an island with a guy she’d only known for six months. She’d been kidnapped, brainwashed, tossed around in various fights leading to various broken bones, some whack job tried to burn her hair off, fought a giant robot, and she had not only kissed one guy, but two. It seemed like a lot. She kind of wished her parents could see her. Lili wanted to believe they would regret what they did.

Reaching up to her neck, she clicked the image inducer off. There was no reason to hide anymore. The world knew what she was and she had never been ashamed of it before.

With a small smile, she headed out the door and saw Kurt standing not far away, “Hey, just wanted to say bye,” he smiled and walked over to hug her.

“When you graduate next year, you should come to Genosha,” she said softly as they hugged. Lili felt a little bad for leaving him behind. It wasn’t like he’d be alone or anything, but they’d come into this together. As much as she’d been through, he’d been through just as much, “Or at least come visit.”

“Ja. I will. Amanda too,” he smiled again.

Kurt walked with her down to the van and she walked over to Scaleface, who was clinging to Ray, “Get her off of me!” he shouted and everyone chuckled a bit. The blond boy sighed and slumped over a bit, seeming to give up.

Lili walked over and grabbed the girl’s arm, “Come on, we’re going to miss out boat.”

The girl whined a little, but let go of Ray’s arm and got to her feet, “You’ll call me right?” she shouted over her shoulder at Ray as Lili shoved her into the van, “I’ll miss you!”

She saw Ray shudder a little and smirked as she climbed in as well, “Thank you for everything, Professor,” she leaned out the window and kissed the bald man on the forehead.

“No need to thank, Lili. Just take care of yourself. Remember to call once in a while and keep out of trouble. If you ever need anything, let us know. I know college isn’t for everyone, but I do hope you consider it. We need to show the world that no matter what our abilities might be or what we may look like, we are no different from them.”

“Right,” she smiled and waved to the others as Japheth started the van and the drove down the long mansion driveway, “Everyone okay back there?” she looked over the back of her seat.

Scaleface seemed upset that she had to leave Ray, but she nodded. Next to her was a small boy who looked almost like a goldfish. He nodded lightly. Next to him was a man with a studded eyepatch over his right eye, his name was Erg. He nodded as well. All of the others did the same as well, except one that was sitting in the very back by himself, “Tarquin, are you okay?” she asked. The boy was always sweating. He was overweight and tended to keep himself.

The large boy just grunted and turned to look out the window. Lili didn’t know what the community was going to be like on Genosha. She wasn’t sure that the life Tarquin was used to living would be accessible in Genosha. Surely they had TVs and stuff. So maybe he would find his niche, but she worried about him.

She sighed softly and turned back around in her seat. Japheth reached over and pat her knee lightly, “It’s going to be alright. I promise,” he reassured her with a smile and she nodded, “Remember, you’re not their caretaker. This is not your job. It’s alright to be concerned for them, but they made this choice themselves. Be their friend, not their mother.”

Lili nodded again, “Right,” it was hard not to care though. Especially about Sammy. Lili had to remind herself that this wasn’t some kind of mission. Yes, she was going to report back to the Professor and Callisto about whether Genosha really was a safe place, but beyond that, she wasn’t an X-Men anymore, “Let’s do this...Where is Genosha, exactly, again?”

“North of the Seychelles. East of Africa.”

“Right...I knew that...” she muttered. She’d spent weeks researching the place. According to reports, Genosha had a large mutant population and always had. It wasn’t till their fight with the Sentinel that the Genosha government came out to the public that it had known about mutants for decades. It claimed that it had keep the secret of it’s people for their safety. Lili had her doubts and so did many people, but if it was true, then Genosha could be the starting place for easing people’s fear of mutants, “How do you think they’ve kept their mutant population secret for so long?”

“Same way the Morlocks did and the Professor did. Hiding. Just because they accepted their mutant population years ago doesn’t mean their lives are any better than any of ours was. But the difference is that they are willing to accept us with open arms. It’s citizens are used to mutants. We won’t be outcasts.”

“I guess that’s true...”

The little orange scaled boy climbed up from the back and sat next to her with a smile, “It’s gonna be our new home.”

Lili smiled down at him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, “That’s right, Sammy.”


	26. Chapter 26

“Welcome to Genosha. The only mutant friendly nation in the world,” the woman behind the counter had the most uncomfortable smile plastered on her face. She was batting her eyelashes at them and tilting her head in a way that looked very unnatural. It reminded Lili of those plastic dolls her mother used to buy her, “Will your group be applying for citizenship or just vacationing?”

“Well...uh...” Lili looked over at Japheth, “I’m not...sure. Do we have to decide that right now?”

“I’m afraid so. Since the emergence of mutants in New York, we have been flooded with immigrants. We have had to apply a strict set of rules. Our nation is accepting of all people, but we are not unlimited in space. We cannot have people coming and going without knowing their intentions. I do hope you understand,” the woman smiled again.

Japheth leaned over and smiled back at her, “Can’t you make just a small exception? Just let us poke around for a bit?” he gave her a wink. Lili couldn’t say she liked it when he did things like that, but it did tend to work. It got them a great table at a restaurant a few weeks before they left the city.

“I’m so sorry, Sir, but rules are rules. I don’t have the authority to bend them. Which of the paperwork would your group like to fill out? Vacation or citizenship?” that smile made Lili want to reach across and hit her.

“What if we say vacation and change our mind?” Lili was trying to compromise.

“I’m sorry, Miss, but vacation paperwork clearly states that once it is filled out, the temporary resident may not apply for citizenship for twelve calendar months _after_ they leave the island. To prevent people from trying to stay within the community without the proper citizenship paperwork filled out and approved, only specific locations are allowed for vacation wandering and access cards are needed to access anywhere else.”

“That seems...strict,” Lili looked over her shoulder at the Morlocks that came with them.

“It’s all for the safety of our people. We wish for Genosha to remain a peaceful nation. That is why we only take serious considerations for citizenship and push the process. It keeps wayward people out. So, which paperwork would you like to fill out?” she smiled again and Lili actually moved to hit her, but Scaleface grabbed her wrist.

“Listen, this is very important to us. We’re here on behalf of the Xavier Institute. You know, the mutant school in New York. We just want to make sure this place is really the right place for...certain types of mutants. You understand, right?” Japheth was trying to appeal to the woman’s sense of humanity.

But it failed, “That school is so sweet. Doing such a great job, but I’m sorry. Rules are rules for a reason. Please step aside so that the others from the boat can fill out their paperwork. Thank you,” she just smiled and motioned with her hand.

“You are such a...” Feral started, but Lili reached back and covered her mouth.

“Not in front of, Sammy,” she warned, “Come on...” she started to usher the group off to the side, “I don’t think this is a choice Japheth or I should be making for the group. You all came here because you wanted a new life. So I think you all should make the choice for yourselves. Even you, Sammy. You’ve been through more in your life than most twice your age, so I know you’ll make the best choice for yourself.”

The little boy looked down at the floor for a moment, “I want to stay here. There is nothing here than can be worse than the way we were living before.”

Lili smiled and nodded, “Anyone else want to join him?”

It didn’t take long for the group to decide. All of them chose to go for the citizenship paperwork. At least all of them, except for Lili and Japheth, “Guess it’s just us then,” he wrapped his arm around her shoulder, “I don’t want to make you feel pressured about us, but whatever you chose is what I’m going to choose.”

“Oh, cause that makes it easier...” she rolled her eyes.

He smiled and hugged her close, “Why don’t we just apply for citizenship? It’s not like they can force us to stay if we don’t want to. We’re mutants, we can figure a way off an island if we don’t want to be here.”

Before she could respond a woman in a white lab coat walked over. She was beautiful in the way that Jean was. Classically beautiful. Tall with bright blond hair. She had a soft smile on her red lips. She looked like the kind of woman that everyone knew, but no one could figure out why how they knew her. Like she’d always just been there and no one was allowed to ignore her. She was beautiful in the way that Scott was handsome. Like a movie star. Even the baggy lab coat she was wearing looked nice on her, “I heard you say you were with the Xavier Institute. Is that correct?”

“Uh...yeah...I don’t think eavesdropping is very polite though...” she commented, “Japheth, we should go...” she stood up and started to walk back towards the line at the counter.

“Wait. Please, hear me out. My name is Dr. Amanda Mueller, I work at the Eugenics Research and Information Center. I’ve contacted Charles Xavier many times via phone and email over the past few years. I study mutation genetics,” Lili didn’t have a clue what eugenics was, but it sounded important, “If you really want to see all of Genosha before making your decision, I can get you visitor passes.”

“That’s great!” Japheth smiled.

“I don’t know. You don’t even know who we are. How do you know we weren’t lying about being from the Institute?” Lili was hesitant. After dealing with Magneto and the Brotherhood, she wasn’t up for just accepting things from people like that anymore.

“Sweetie...every mutant knows you. Most non-mutants too. Your face, along with all of the others at the Xavier Institute, was plastered on every television world wide. Lili Kline, right?”

“...yeah,” Lili didn’t like that people knew her before she knew them. It was uncomfortable.

“Listen, I’ll go get a visitor passes for you and your...” she looked over at Japheth.

“Boyfriend,” the look the other woman gave her was one she was used to. That look of _’oh, that’s sweet of him’_ or _’she must have a lot of money in her family’_. Even some of the other girls at the institute gave her that look. She knew they didn’t mean it.

“Oh, that’s sweet,” it was the first time someone had actually said that and Lili frowned, “I’ll go get those passes,” she smiled and walked towards the counter and behind it.

“Japheth, what’s eugenics?”

He shrugged, “Don’t know. Probably some weird genetics term,” which she figured that, “We should give her a chance though. She seems nice and she knows the Professor. And hey, we get a free tour around before signing the paperwork. Isn’t that great?” he smiled.

Lili guessed it was. Sammy was right about the Morlocks, their lives before this hadn’t been that great so it didn’t matter too much to them what choice they made. But Lili had a decent life before. Not great, but she wasn’t living in a sewer, “Yeah, that is nice. Wish she’d come over and offered that to all of us,” but she guessed the others would have made the choice to stay anyway.

“Here you are,” the blond woman came back over, her heels clicking across the tile as she held up two badges, “They are active for two days. After that, you’ll have to sign the papers. Oh, and the one condition is that you have to visit my research center at least once.”

“Thank you so much, Dr. Mueller,” Japheth smiled and took the badges for them, “We’ll do that tomorrow. It’s been a long trip.”

“That’s fine. So long as you show up, I can justify the visitor passes,” she smiled, “You know, there’s a great hotel by the center. You two can stay there. It’s right by the vacation beaches...” Lili gave her a look, “We built it there for a reason. Mutants have been flocking here since the outting in New York. We study mutations, so it’s only natural that we set up closest to the mutant population. Don’t worry, I’ll show you all around the center. I’m sure Xavier would love to hear about it from someone he’s closer to than myself.”

“Yeah, that’d be great...” she nodded and moved closer to Japheth, “So, where’s that hotel?” she glanced over her shoulder at the crowd of mutants that had come from the boat. The Morlocks were all being ushered off in one direction with piles of papers in their hands, “Where are they going?”

“Lili, don’t worry about it,” Japheth wrapped his arm around her shoulders, “They’ll be fine. We’ll see them later,” he nudged her a bit to get her to start following after the doctor.

“Okay...” she didn’t want to just leave them. It was taking a lot to keep reminding herself that she wasn’t their group leader, their mother, or anything like that. She was just their friend, and barely even that to some of them.

***

The hotel room was beautiful, “Japheth! Look at this view!” she shouted and flung the curtains open, “We’re so high up!”

“You’ve been on an asteroid and this is what impresses you? A beach view?” he smirked as he set the last of their bags down at the foot of the bed, “It is nice. We’ll have to thank Dr. Mueller for helping us get this room. She really knows how to pull the strings around here.”

“Yes she does.” she smiled and leaned her forehead against the window. Looking down like that made her feel like she was flying. Lili used to do it at the institute all the time. It didn’t matter that she could fly now, it still felt fun to do.

“Well, I don’t care about the view that much. Ek wil om te toets uit die bed,” he said as he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around here, “Ek wil hê jy moet voel op my, Lili. Intiem,” he whispered into her ear and nuzzling her neck, “Sê vir my wat jy wil hê ek.”

“Are you saying perverted things again? You know I don’t like it when you do that,” she wanted to frown and scold him, but he swayed and nuzzled her neck more, “Tell me what you said.”

“You could just say ‘yes’ and let me show you instead,” he teased.

She felt her face get warm and she pulled away, “It really was a long trip. Maybe we should just get some sleep.”

“I love when you play hard to get,” he said with a smirk as he watched her head over to the bed.

“I’m not playing. You know that,” he didn’t push for things nearly as much as Toad had, but he still pushed, “So, how are we going to handle the sleeping arrangements?” she looked down at the one bed. On the ship, they’d had two beds, “We can do head to toe. Or I can take the chair tonight and you take the bed, then we switch tomorrow night.”

He came up behind her again and rubbed his hands over her shoulders, “Lili, we’re adults. I think we can handle sharing a bed. Unless...you don’t think you can?” he leaned down and kissed the top of her head.

Lili wanted to tell him that she couldn’t. The closest she’d come to sharing a bed with anyone was Toad. That had been a strange situation though. It was their first time making out in his bedroom. They’d only gone there after they realized that their spot under the benches on the soccer field was in use and for once, their spot in the trees was occupied for the first time. He’d convinced her back to his room. They hadn’t memorized the other Brotherhood members schedules yet and all of them ended up coming home while Lili was still in bed with him. The window in his room was painted shut at the time and she couldn’t get out. She’d ended up having to wait for everyone else to go to sleep and sneak out. That was also the first time Toad had, in a non-teasing way, asked for sex.

“I can handle it,” she nodded, though somewhat unsure of her answer.

“Really? Cause I can sleep in the chair if you really want.”

“No, no, no...I can handle it. Really. Like you said, we’re adults. I’m eighteen. I’m starting a new life...again...and I can share a bed with my boyfriend if I want to. I can even do that with no inappropriate behaviors going on. Right?” she looked over her shoulder at him and he let go of her shoulders.

“Of course. If you start to get cuddly, I’ll just sick Meany on you,” he joked as he walked around the bed and started unbuttoning his shirt.

Lili watched him for just a moment till she realized he was undressing. His shirt came open and she saw the two slugs squirming around inside of his abdomen. His hands then went to his pants and she turned her back to him quickly, “What’re you doing?”

“Getting ready for bed. I thought you were tired. Something wrong?”

“Uh...no...of course not...” her cheeks felt warm again.

“Then let’s go to bed,” he smiled and climbed under the blankets in nothing but his boxers.

Lili wouldn’t deny that Japheth was handsome. She knew he was. Hell, nearly every girl who saw him knew he was. He told her that she was beautiful. That she was the perfect mutant girl. A mutant who looked like a mutant. At first, she’d found that somewhat insulting. She knew he didn’t mean it in a bad way. It just meant that he was more attracted to women of his own kind, which did seem a bit...racist. Though she had trouble figuring out if that was the right word for it. Then she just mentally slapped herself and reminded herself that a handsome, strong, and smart man wanted to be with her, “Right.”

Walking over to her suitcase, she dug out a pair of pajama pants and one of her altered tank tops, “You could just sleep in your underwear, like me,” he teased.

“I don’t think so. I don’t wear underwear...” which made herself blush as she said that.

“Oh really?” his eyebrows perked up.

“Yes,” she admitted. Toad figured that one out quickly and used it to his advantage whenever she’d let him, “I don’t _need_ a bra and I can never find underwear in my size that doesn’t get uncomfortable in my uniform. Boom Boom doesn’t wear underwear either,” which wasn’t a huge surprise, “And Kitty doesn’t wear a bra.”

“I knew there was a reason I like watching you three jumping,” he chuckled and she picked his pants up off the floor and threw them at him.

“There isn’t anything to see when I jump,” she stated before starting towards the bathroom.

“Can’t you at least change in front of me? I’ve already seen you naked. I’d like to see it in person,” he smiled and folded his hands behind his head.

Lili shook her head, “Not tonight. It’s late and I’m tied. Maybe sometime soon.”

“Tomorrow night?” he smiled again.

“Maybe...No promises other than that it will happen eventually.”

“I guess I can live with that,” though he didn’t seem wholly happy with it.


	27. Chapter 27

Lili didn’t like places like this. It reminded her too much of Asteroid M. All clinical and cold. The only difference between the research center and the asteroid was that everyone was wearing lab coats. It was different from everywhere else on the island that they’d visited.

Lili and Japheth had spent most of the day roaming around the city and the beaches. She checked on the Morlocks to make sure they were all settling in. She was surprised by the nice accommodations they were all getting. She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting at first, but the housing for the incoming mutants was nice. They were all giving studio apartment like housing. Three mutants a place till they were able to find a new place of their own as citizens. They were even given a list of locations that were hiring mutants for work.

Overall, everyone they met in Genosha was wonderful. Everyone was so happy and accepting. It was almost creepy on some levels. She was used to people looking at her strangely, but no one did here.

“Dr. Mueller, what exactly is eugenics?” she asked as the beautiful blond lead them through the front of the building to the more sterile looking areas.

“Eugenics is the bio-social movement which advocates practices to improve the genetic composition of a population,” she responded as she scanned a keycard and they passed by a few lab rooms filled with various sorts of medical instruments, “We want to improve human hereditary traits.”

“How are you going to do that?” Japheth wrapped an arm around her waist as she questioned the doctor.

The woman smiled over her shoulder, “Reproduction.”

Both Lili and Japheth seemed a little shocked and confused by that response, “I don’t think we understand,” he said softly.

“It’s alright. Most don’t get it. As disgusting as this may sound, it’s just like with dogs. You take the ones with the most desirable traits and you breed them. We study x-gene mutations here. Two parents who are not mutants can produce a mutant child, but the chances are low. Meanwhile, two mutants who reproduce will produce a mutant child almost one hundred percent of the time.”

“You want to breed mutants?”

“Basically, yes. What better place to do it?” she smiled and Lili felt a shiver go down her spine, “Don’t worry, we pay well.”

“You pay people to reproduce for you?”

“No, we pay for their medical care, the schooling of the child, housing...everything. We ensure that our subjects have the most comfortable lives possible. It’s not as if we’re forcing them to do anything and then stealing the babies from them. We want to see how these children grow up in a healthy way. We want to see what sorts of things affect their mutation. It’s really a plus to the mutant community. Eugenics itself means _well born_. Mutants are the next stage of human evolution. We should know how it progresses from beginning to end.”

Lili still didn’t like the sound of it. It sounded weird. But she supposed that it did make some sense and at least the mutants weren’t being mistreated, “I guess so long as it’s all voluntary...”

“Of course. What sort of government would force it’s population into something like this?” she smiled again and it made her shiver once more, “There are some downsides to it though. Sometimes the children don’t get born. I suppose that is always a risk. Many times the pregnancy will fail either due to the mother’s mutation or the child’s. I hate doing it, but we can still learn a lot from those situations.”

Hearing that made her hold onto Japheth a little tighter, “So long as it’s all for a good cause, I guess you’re doing a good thing for the world. I won’t pretend to understand it all.”

“I never expect anyone to,” she stopped and turned to look at the two of them, “I doubt you’d agree to it, but I wouldn’t mind having you two as subjects. I’d be interested in seeing the full spectrum of both of your abilities and what a child produced from them would be capable of,” Lili went wide eyed and Japheth started laughing, “I’m not so sure what’s so funny about it. I am serious. We’ve never had an avian here before. It would be good work for you both and all you have to do is what comes natural.”

“I’m sorry, Dr. Mueller, but you’re talking to the wrong people about that. We appreciate the tour, but Lili’s a virgin and I have a feeling she intends on staying that way for a while,” she turned her head to glance at him. It almost sounded insulting and it was very personal.

“Oh...well...we wouldn’t want to ruin someone’s first time with a bunch of medical terms and equipment, but if you change your mind...you know where to find me. Why don’t you ask the receptionist on your way out for some informational papers? You could learn something,” she smiled before heading off through a door. She made sure to close it behind her. Lili got a glimpse through the window and saw a young girl, not much older than herself, laying on a medical table. Her stomach was huge and looked ready to pop. Dr. Mueller walked over and slung a curtain shut.

The tall mutant came up next to her and touched her hand lightly, “Why don’t we go back down to the beach and have dinner with the others?”

“She didn’t look happy to be in there...”

“Of course not. She’s pregnant and it’s hot outside. She’s probably miserable and ready to have that baby,” he smiled and started tugging her towards the exit.

“Yeah, I guess...” she wasn’t too convinced of that, “Japheth...why’d you tell her I was a virgin?”

“Cause it’s true.”

“That doesn’t mean I want some weird doctor knowing about it. It’s embarrassing.”

“Well, there is an easy fix for that. I could help you...not be a virgin,” he smiled and she pulled away from him, “I’m kidding, Lili. You know that. You haven’t even let me put my tongue in your mouth yet,” which just seemed to irritated her more as someone walked by them and snickered.

On their way past the receptionist desk, he grabbed the papers there and she turned to look at him, “Why are you grabbing those? I’m not doing that.”

“I know. I just think it’s interesting. It doesn’t hurt to learn about it. We should read up about it together. It might be something the others would be interested in,” he came up next to her and shoved the papers into her purse, “You’re upset with me.”

“How’d you figure that one out?” she snipped, “I’m not reading that stuff. It’s creepy. It’s no wonder the Professor never mentioned it. They want to own mutant babies. It’s weird and creepy and wrong.”

“Okay, you don’t have to read it,” he sighed before putting an arm around her shoulders, “Come on, let’s go have fun. Why don’t you go down to the beach and I’ll take our stuff up to the hotel room and meet you down there?”

Lili sighed and nodded, “Yeah. That’s fine...” she was still upset with him as she pulled the purse from her shoulder and handed it over to him. As embarrassing as it had been, she knew he hadn’t meant it that way. He was just telling Dr. Mueller one of the reasons why they wouldn’t go through with something like that. The doctor had been right. She didn’t want her fist time, or anytime really, to involve paperwork and medical equipment.

It was beyond her understanding why anyone would want to be some sort of birthing factory, but then she remembered that some mutants weren’t able to do normal work. Maybe it was good that at least someone was offering some kind of work for them. Lili just couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be treated like a lab rat again. Especially for something so private and intimate. She hadn’t even liked the thought of anyone seeing Toad and herself kissing. Not because she was embarrassed, but because it was no one elses business.


	28. Chapter 28

Genosha was a wonderful place. Beautiful and filled with beaches and some of the best scenery in the world. Even the people were pretty great too. Everyone was nice and no one seemed to look at anyone differently. It was like an act of congress back home after the outing just to rent a book from the library if you were a known mutant. But here, no one bat an eye at it. It was completely normal to them, even for the non-mutants. They didn’t look at her strangely when she walked in the room.

All of them were citizens of Genosha now. Even Lili and Japheth. They moved into the mutant housing with the others and were given all of the information needed for the next year. Basically, they were allowed to stay rent free in the mutant housing for one year. After that, they were expected to find housing of their own. If they were unable to, they had the choice to leave the island for twelve months and reapply for citizenship, which could be denied, or they would have to live on the streets and hope for the best. Their ship of mutants had been the last. Some still came for vacationing, but the housing was full and no more mutants could be accepted for the time being.

It had been almost six months since they got here and Japheth was working at the a hospital. While he wasn’t a doctor and didn’t have any kind of degree, Genosha understood that their high mutant population meant that they needed mutants working in all areas. He mostly did clean up, but he also worked with the kids. They seemed to like Eany and Meany.

The others had found jobs too. Erg was working at a factory that used his energy pulses to cut metal sheets. Tar was working with a street cleaning company. Tommy was the colorful cashier at a music shop. Leech and Sammy were both enrolled in school. Piper was working at a petting zoo. Bliss was working as a venomous animal handler at a research lab on the other side of the island. Feral was working with other mutants like herself at a support center that helped mutants with mutations that caused their emotions to run wild. Scaleface was working at a reptile house, the creatures there seemed to love her.

The only ones that seemed to have any trouble finding any kind of work were Tarquin and herself. Tarquin was easily understandable. For one, the boy didn’t want to work. He wanted to sit in a chair all day and watch tv or play video games. He wanted nothing else from life. His mutation made it hard for him to work around other people anyway or doing any kind of job that might lead his mutation to make contact with other people. The substance his body secreted was so addictive that he’d been notified by the Genoshian government that they might not be able to allow him to stay after his year was up unless he could prove himself not a danger.

As for herself, Lili didn’t understand it. She was smart and hard working. Even though she hadn’t gone to college, she was planning on doing so, but she still needed a job in the meantime. She knew she could ask the Professor for help, but she just couldn’t make herself do that. Lili needed to do this on her own. If she couldn’t even get a job, then she might as well just go back to the institute now and be done with it.

It was the strangest thing. She filled out the applications and got calls on them almost immediately. The interviews always went great, but almost like clockwork, two days later, they would call her and state they were going with someone else.

She knew her job set would be limited, due to her fragile bones, but even the nearby library had turned her down. As much as she hated doing it, even the fast food places turned her down (which was probably for the best, no one wanted a feather with their fries). She’d graduated early and had a damn near perfect GPA in school. It shouldn’t be this hard to find a job. Any job.

“You alright?” Japheth questioned as she came into their small apartment and slammed the door shut. She slung her purse across the room onto the couch and huffed as she started kicking her heeled shoes off, “I take it you did not get the job?”

“No. I didn’t,” she snapped, “At least they told me upfront instead of waiting two days to call me. Apparently, I’m not even good enough to take orders at that diner down the street,” she huffed and flopped face down on the bed.

The mutant housing was nice, but small. They were more like studio apartments. One long room. The entry door lead in and the bathroom was immediately on the left. A little further down and the kitchen area was on the left as well. There were two closets lining the right side of the entry hall. Beyond that was the living space. There was a small couch and coffee table sitting across from a cheap tv set that they barely used. Beyond that was a small desk and dresser. Against the back wall was a bed. All of the rooms were the same for all of the housings.

He came up next to her and settled onto the bed. One of his hands reached over and stroked her back lightly, “You’ll find something. Don’t worry about it.”

Lili groaned and turned her head to face him, “I’ve been filling out applications for six months, Japheth. I’m pretty sure I’ve applied all over the island.”

“Why don’t you call the Professor? He seems to always have a connection. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind helping you,” he leaned down and kissed her cheek softly.

“I can’t do that, Japheth. I can’t rely on him or his connections. I’m smart and I’m willing to do anything for work, so why won’t anyone hire me?” Lili groaned and climbed up onto the bed. She leaned against him and nuzzled into his neck, “Being an adult sucks...”

Japheth chuckled softly, “You’ve been an adult for longer than you think, Lili. All that was missing was the bills, which is the most unpleasant part. Remember, you fought a crazy man in space and a giant robot. You can handle finding a job.”

She smiled and kissed his neck, “I know...it’s just annoying...”

“Well, if you won’t accept getting help from the Professor, maybe you’ll accept getting help from me? I’m your boyfriend, we’re living together, and what happens in your life affects mine,” he wrapped his arms around her shoulders as she folded her wings around herself.

“How’re you gonna help me find a job?” she sighed softly.

“I don’t know. Maybe you can come work at the hospital with me.”

“I already tried the hospital, Japheth. They turned me down too.”

“You only tried the housekeeping staff. Mr. Milbury is always complaining that his transcriptionist isn’t good enough. Instead of going out filling out applications tomorrow, why don’t you come to the hospital with me and meet him? He works with the children, mostly the mutant ones that come from the research center.”

Lili didn’t like the research center. She knew what it did wasn’t technically wrong or bad, but it just creeped her out. She didn’t think badly of the mutants that went there or the children that were produced from it, but Lili did her best to keep her distance from it, “I guess I could. Not like I have many options...”

“We’ll find you something. If we can’t, then you’ll just stay home and be my little housewife,” he teased till he saw the glaring look on her face, “Joking. Joking. You would drive me insane if you were home all day. I swear,” he smiled and pecked her lips lightly.

“Is Dr. Milbury a nice guy?”

“He’s a little strict, but only because he takes his job seriously. The children love him. I’ve told him a little about you and he seems interested in meeting you, so maybe he’ll offer you a job without you asking.”

“Yeah, maybe...” Lili really wished she could get a job on her own, but she knew she’d just have to get over it and accept his help. It wasn’t like it was the worst thing in the world. She’d get help for now and then work her way to a promotion or something on her own.

***

She really hated hospitals. It was that sterile smell that reminded her of Asteroid M. Luckily, this was the pediatric ward and the whole ‘cold, sterile, uninviting’ feeling wasn’t as prevalent here. Still, she didn’t really like being here. Even before the asteroid, she’d never even liked watching doctor shows on the tv. It was just unsettling for some reason.

Japheth had told her to dress nice-casual since she was going to be around kids. Lili hadn’t dealt with too many kids in her life. At the institute, Jamie had been the youngest at only thirteen. She saw Sammy and Leech sometimes, but not often and never by herself.

He’d gone in several hours before she did and walking towards the doors she could already hear weird cooing noises. It was Eany and Meany. Lili was still surprised the hospital let him let them out. They weren’t dirty or anything, but still. She and Meany were still on touchy grounds with each other, but at least her shoes weren’t being eaten anymore.

It had been difficult, at first, to get comfortable with Japheth when they were around. Eany was wanting her attention constantly and, at first, Meany would growl and snap at her. Now Meany just made noises of displeasure in her presence. It made for some uncomfortable moments when they started kissing only for her to realize that the two creatures were there with them still and growling at her. It was to the point where Japheth would let them out at night, just so they could share a bed without Meany’s growls of hate keeping them awake.

They must have known she was coming, because the moment she pushed through the door, she was attacked by one of the large creatures. It lunged at her and she fell backwards with a yelp, “Eany!” she heard some kids giggling as the beast wrapped itself around her arm and gave her a big lick on her upper shoulder. Lili groaned as Japheth came running over and pulled the slug off of her.

“I told you he would do that if you didn’t pet him last night,” he said as she looked up at him. He reached down to help her to her feet, “Kids, this is Miss. Lili. She’s a friend of mine,” he introduced her. Most of the children looked like non-mutants, but a portion of them were without a doubt mutants. She frowned a bit when she realized how to tell them all apart. She knew that the ones wearing necklaces with dog tags were the children produced by the research center. She’d seen a lot of mutants on the island wearing those. She was shocked at how many of them were here, “Miss. Lili is here to meet Dr. Milbury. If you all are on your best behavior, she might come to work here.”

Lili didn’t like him making those kinds of promises, but he was finished saying it before she could stop him. Several of the kids came over to talk to her as he wandered off back to his duties. They asked her all sorts of questions about her wings. She even let them touch and feel the feathers. It wasn’t as bad being around kids as she thought it was going to be.

She sat there playing with a small group of the mutant children for nearly an hour before someone came up behind her, “Lili Kline?”

“Huh?” she turned around and saw who she assumed was Dr. Milbury. He was almost as tall as Japheth and she could tell he was a mutant just by his eyes. She doubted any respectable doctor would wear red contact lenses, so the red color of his eyes had to be natural. As was the strangely pale-blue color of his skin. Lili didn’t believe in vampires, but he seemed pretty close to being one in appearance, “Dr. Milbury?” the black color of his hair wasn’t helping the vampire feel.

He smiled and nodded as she climbed to her feet and held her hand out, “It’s good to finally meet you. Japheth has told me so much about you,” he had a very smooth voice. It sounded old fashioned with his accent. Lili couldn’t seem to place it.

“It’s good to meet you too,” she smiled as he shook her hand.

He started to lead her away from the kids to talk, “I’ve met a lot of mutants in my life, so I must admit, when Japheth first mentioned your avian mutation, I didn’t think much about it. I’ve seen many avian mutants. Then he described your bones.”

“You’re interested in my bones? I don’t see why. It’s the weakest thing about me.”

“Exactly. He says they are thin and fragile. It’s what makes you light enough to fly. You don’t have to exert the energy that others do. Yes, you use a lot of energy as birds do, but not as much as a mutant who was born with heavy bones and wings,” Lili knew all of this. It wasn’t news to her.

“Yeah...” she wasn’t sure what else to say. She didn’t like talking about her mutation. It seemed so boring compared to others, “I know this might seem kind of rude, Dr. Milbury, but I didn’t come here to talk about my mutation.”

He chuckled as they walked down the hallway, “I know. You came here for a job. Japheth told me you’ve been having trouble finding work. Part of the paperwork for citizenship was a detailed description of your mutation. Anytime someone runs your name, it’s going to show up. People might be concerned to have such a fragile person working for them. It could be a liability,” Lili hadn’t thought about that, but it made sense, “You could use your mutation to your advantage. Make it work for you.”

“I’m not sure how that’s possible.”

“Well, I’m always in need of new test subjects...”

Lili cut him off, “Sorry, not interested in being a lab rat. I think it would be best if I just went home,” she shook her head a little before starting off from him.

“Wait, Miss. Kline,” he reached out and grabbed her arm lightly, “I apologize. I forget that not everyone is interested in the biology of their mutation. I’m very sorry. Please forgive me,” he smiled softly, “Let me try again?”

She sighed and shook her head again, “Okay...”

“I do need more research subjects, but if you’re not comfortable with that, then perhaps I can find you a different job. The mutant research center moved here from New Mexico about five years ago...” she gave him a look, “Hear me out, I know Japheth said you don’t approve of that place. Before mutants came to the public eye, when doctors such as myself and Dr. Mueller had mutant patients we couldn’t log them into the system. We can now and I think it would be beneficial to the hospital and the center if we could get them into the system. They have a whole basement of files over there that needed entered in. I can’t promise you a job after you’re done, but there is enough down there for at least a year,” she seemed surprised to hear that, “We’ve been working with mutants for decades, Lili. For more than just the eugenics research.”

Data entering. It didn’t seem that great, but it was better than some of the options she’d entertained. It wasn’t like she’d be letting them impregnate her or anything. It was actually a good thing. Getting those names and such saved somewhere incase those people ever showed up needing help, “Dr. Milbury, that would be great and maybe if other jobs see that you hired me, they’ll want to as well later on,” she smiled, trying to keep an open mind about it. Lili just kept telling herself that she would be working far away from Mueller.

He smiled, “See, there is a silver lining in everything and, just so you know, I hadn’t planned on using you as a lab rat. Nor were my intentions to have you put in stirrups,” which made her blush, “I do more than studying how to reproduce the most desirable traits in a living creature. I study all aspects of genetics and mutation. Let me know if you ever change your mind on that.”

“I doubt I will, but okay,” she didn’t even have to hesitate to say that.

“Very well, but the offer will remain open. Be at the research center tomorrow morning. I’ll let them know you’ll be there,” he smiled again and gave her a small nod, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to check on some of the children.”

“Great,” she smiled, “Thank you so much. Oh, can you tell Japheth, when you see him, that I’ll see him at home? I don’t want to interrupt him.”

“Of course. Have a good day, Miss. Kline.”

***

The tall, red skinned mutant wasn’t even halfway through the door when Lili flung her arms around his neck and forced him to bend down to kiss her. She tugged him inside, lips crushed against his, and kicked the door shut with her foot, “Mmmm...Lili...” he tried to talk, but she pressed their lips tightly together as he pulled and tugged him over to the couch. She ignored Meany’s growling from under his shirt. She pushed him down and climbed into his lap.

It wasn’t till she moved her lips down to his neck that he got a chance to speak, “Not that I don’t appreciate it, cause it feels nice, but is there a reason for the excitement?” he wrapped his arms around her waist and stroked his fingers on the small of her back, “I hate to say it, but you tend to get like this when you’re upset or angry,” to which she grunted a little bit before nipping at his collarbone, “Again, that feels nice. Really nice...but I do prefer happier tone if we’re going to be doing this. Or at least to know why we’re doing it.”

She sat up and smiled down at him, “One, we’re not doing _it_ ,” they’d been together for a while now, but they’d never done more than kissing, “Two, do I really get like this when I’m upset?” he nodded a bit, “Okay, well...Three, I’m not upset. I’m happy,” she smiled again, “Dr. Milbury got me a job and it’s thanks to you. I start tomorrow.”

“Lili, that’s great,” he rubbed his hands over her hips and pulled her closer, “We should celebrate.”

“I made dinner,” she smiled.

“Ek het iets anders in gedagte,” before she could respond, his hands moved from her hips and slid down to cup her backside, “Ek wil jou.”

Lili didn’t have to know what he was saying to get it. He wasn’t one to push for sex often, but when he did, he tended to speak in his native language. The few times that he did that, it was mostly teasing. It wasn’t the same way that Toad had asked for it. Toad had pushed rather hard for it. There wasn’t a time when they kissed that he didn’t try for it. His cold fingers were always trying to work open his pants or her pants. Or he’d get really brave and try to pin her down to the bed and push their hips together to get the point across. There were a few times that it almost worked. He’d have her dress or skirt up around her waist and start rubbing their hips together. If it wasn’t for the discomfort of laying on her back, she probably would have let him a couple of times.

“Ek wil hê jy te hê,” he said softly as he leaned up and kissed her lips.

“Japheth...” she groaned a little as he stroked one of his hands up the center of her back. He knew how to get to her, like Toad had. A little stroking around her wings always made her feel warm and relaxed. Lili knew that her relationship with him was different from the one she had with Toad. They were living together. They had been for six months now. She’d started her life over with him. Lili knew it should have been easy to make the decision to _be_ with him. To do more than just kissing. As it was, all they did was kiss and it was rare for her to even let him put his tongue in her mouth or let his hands wander. It felt a little strange to jump into sex when they’d barely done anything else, “Why don’t we just kiss and see where it goes?”

He sighed a little and laid his head back on the couch, “You always say that when you’re too embarrassed to just say ‘no’. We’ll kiss for a few minutes and the moment I try to even do a little more than that, you say you’re tired,” she hadn’t realized that she did that often. He saw the down look on her face and rubbed his hands up over her hips, “It’s alright. Don’t worry about it. I know you’re not ready, but I can still hope.”

“...do I really do that?” she’d been feeling pretty good after meeting with the doctor and getting offered the job, but now she felt kind of bad. She didn’t want to lead Japheth on or making him feel like she didn’t want him. She hated it, but there were several reasons why she couldn’t make herself just let him.

It made her feel horrible, but there were many times when they were kissing that he would say or do something that reminded her of Toad. The moment his tongue touched her mouth, she would think about how different it was from Toad’s and then she’d start remembering how it felt to kiss him. Whenever his hands started wandering, she thought about the first time Toad did that. How he’d slipped his hands down the back of her leggings after the dance. How cold his fingers were. It always made her feel guilty for thinking about it. Lili had hoped that, by now, she would be over the little hopping mutant, but sometimes she realized that she wasn’t.

“You do, but it’s okay. We’ll get there when you’re ready,” Meany growled from under his shirt, “Plus, I don’t think Meany is ready for us to be that serious yet either,” he teased lightly, “Why don’t you tell me what Dr. Milbury is going to have you do?” he didn’t let her out of his lap. Instead, he held her and stroked the small of her back.

“...I have to work at the research center...”

“Oh...So, we’re going to be doing _that_. Considering what we just talked about, I didn’t think you were ready for something like that. You know, you didn’t have to go to Dr. Milbury for that. Dr. Mueller is always available...”

Her eyes widened a bit as she realized what he was talking about, “Oh god no. Not that. I’m going to be inputting their old files into the computer. Before the whole mutant outing thing, they did most of their work on paper so the data couldn’t be hacked. They want it in the computers now,” she smirked, “Did you really think I would do something like that?”

“Of course not,” he rubbed her hips softly, “Though I won’t deny that the thought of that kind of job doesn’t sound that bad...”

“Of course it doesn’t to you. You get paid for a minute and a half of work and I have to deal with it for the next eighteen to twenty years,” she ran her hands over his chest and down to his stomach. She felt the hard plate and heard a growl, “She’s never going to get used to me.”

“She will. You just have to give her time,” he smiled and pulled her hips closer in his lap, “And I promise you, it would be much longer than a minute and a half. Much, much longer,” Meany growled again, “Kom ek wys jou. Dit sal meer as die moeite werd.”

“Don’t be perverted,” she snipped before finally sliding from his lap, “One of these days, I’m going to find out exactly what you’re saying and slap you for it,” he smiled up at her and climbed up from the couch, “Dinner’s getting cold.”

“Let’s go eat then, but you’re making this up to me,” she looked at him curiously, “Well, you did say that you got the job thanks to me bringing you there, right?” she nodded, “So I want, tonight, when we go to bed, I want to spend a good amount of time with my lips on yours.”

“Japheth...”

“Just kissing. I won’t push for anything more. Though if you really don’t want to do that, I will accept you doing the dishes everyday for two weeks.”

Lili smiled, “Kissing is fine.”

“So glad to know you’d rather be kissing me than doing dishes,” he teased.

“Yes, well, sometimes you have to settle,” she teased back.


	29. Chapter 29

“I’m so glad you decided to come back, Lili,” the beautiful, blond doctor smiled at her as they headed down the hallway, “I must admit, I’m a little disappointed that you didn’t come here for our main program. Dr. Milbury is right though, we need those files put onto the computers. Maybe once you’ve been here a while and see our program in it’s full, you’ll change your mind.”

“I won’t,” Lili stated plainly.

“Such an honest and straight to the point girl, I like that,” not that it mattered to Lili if this woman liked her. She wasn’t sure if it was the research that went on here or something else, but Dr. Mueller gave her the creeps, “You know, your friend Tarquin was here the other day for a job.”

“Really?” she hated to think badly of anyone, but she didn’t see Tarquin as the fathering type.

“Oh yes. Not for our reproduction program, but for one of our more medical ones. We’re working on a new type of painkiller for surgeries. As you know, the fluid he secrets has a relaxant in it. I think it can be something good.”

“...and it’s dangerously addictive. People thought cocaine was a good thing too at first...”

The woman actually laughed a little before opening a door to a room filled with dozens of boxes, “Yes, well, leave that to the scientists to deal with. This is all yours to deal with. I’m sorry it’s not very organized. I’m not even sure some of these boxes have been opened in the last five years. Maybe more. It would be great if you could alphabetize the physical files too, since we do plan on keeping those in case anything ever happens to the computer. Think you can handle it?”

Lili looked around the room in shock. It was a complete mess, “Sure. I can handle anything,” she did what she always did, she reminded herself that she’d handled brainwashing and a giant robot. There was little that could compare to that.

“Great. Now, no one is expecting you to have this done today or even in a month, but I do ask that you keep up a good pace. Alright?”

“Got it.”

“Good. I’ll leave you to it then. If you need any help or have any questions, just ask. I’ll have one of the techs come up in a few minutes to get the computer set up for you. Just get started on the boxes for now.”

“Okay,” she nodded lightly and slipped into the room. It was small and hot. Dusty too. She doubted anyone had been in here since the boxes were put in here. She tucked her wings behind her back to keep from getting them dirty as she walked over to one of the stacks, “Might as well start here...”

***

A month later, Japheth and herself were looking into apartments further in the city. Lili liked being by the ocean, but the housing there was too expensive for them to keep up with on their own. Especially considering the fact that while her job was going to last a while, it wasn’t going to last forever. They needed something that they could afford till she found another job after this one.

She hefted a box onto her desk and groaned a little. She’d lost count on what number box it was. She’d already lettered twenty-six other boxes to start her alphabetizing. So she knew she’d emptied out at least twenty-six. Depending how many files were in each box, she could do about a box a day. Sometimes a little less, but close to that.

Other than some papercuts, it wasn’t that bad. It got tiresome and repetitive, but it was kind of interesting to read through the files. She had a feeling a lot of the names were fake, but she understood why. It really made her wonder how many mutants in the world were born from this program. It also made her understand it more. It still gave her the creeps, but she was now understanding why so many mutants would chose to do something like this. It was money and there was no telling how many mutants Dr. Mueller and Dr. Milbury had helped with the sometimes dangerous mutations.

She flipped the box top open and pulled out the first file, “Mortimer Toynbee...” it sounded strange enough to be a fake name, but she could believe it. She pulled up the template on the computer and started typing. This Mortimer wasn’t a child conceived from the program, but rather a pregnant mother who knew her child would be a mutant and went to the old facility for help.

It was amazing to read over this file, and some of the others. The level of technology used on these kids was incredible. It still disgusted her some of the things she read that they did, but none of it was actually illegal. It was more just unethical. Running tests and such on the unborn children and then on them again when they were born. It bothered her. This Mortimer was subject to dozens of experimental tests before he was even born. They injected the mother with dozens of things. Most that Lili couldn’t even pronounce the name of. All just to see what sort of effect it would have.

The file was rather large. Apparently he’d stayed with the group for several years after birth. There were comments about neurological imbalances and personality issues. Of course there was no mention that all of that could have been cause by the tests done on him as a fetus. They determined his mutation to be an unstable one. He was labeled as a Beta-Level mutant. Which meant that his appearance was mostly human and his powers were out of his control. Like Cyclops.

The abilities listed were somewhat disturbing. Mind alteration, paralytic resin, and toxic saliva. There were also mentions of a six foot prehensile tongue with comments that it would likely grow as he did. It reminded her of Toad, even more so when she found a picture of the child in the back of the file.

Lili didn’t realize it till she’d been staring at it in a daze for nearly ten minutes that it was Toad. Her eyes widened a little as she looked it over. The kid in the picture was only about two or three years old, but it was most definitely Toad. Most of the files didn’t have pictures, but this one had several. She lined them up and she knew without a doubt that it was Toad. The pale, pond green color of his skin, the grey color of his hair, and the yellow eyes. That added in with the mutations mentioned, she knew it had to be him.

Lili started tearing through the papers in the file. Reading and rereading everything in it. What upset her the most was that the files just stopped. That seemed to be a common theme. A lot of the files just stopped having notes written on them. Some had sad endings due to termination of pregnancy or stillborn, but like this one, many just simply stopped. There were no more mentions of Toad coming back to the facility or having anymore tests done on him.

She was staring at the pictures, she knew it had to be Toad, when the door opened and Dr. Mueller poked her head in, “Doing alright today?”

“Huh?” she snapped back to attention and shook her head a little as she scrambled to get the papers back together, “Oh? Uh, yeah. I’m okay. Just dropped the file on the desk,” she smiled a bit, “Do you need something, Dr. Mueller?”

“No. Just seeing how the work is going today.”

“It’s fine...” she thought for a moment, “Dr. Mueller, a lot of the files seem to just...end.”

“Yes, well, a lot of the mutants born from my work tended to wander off for fear of being found out. As trusting as we were of them, most were not so trusting of us. It doesn’t matter how much we did for them, they were scared and we couldn’t change that. Sometimes, the parents simply got tired of it and moved. We had no way to track them.”

“Do you remember all your patients, Dr. Mueller?” she doubted it, but some doctors did have that ability if one stuck out enough.

“I wish I could say that I could, but that would be impossible. I do remember a fair amount. Why?”

“Just wondering...like this one,” she held up the file labeled as Mortimer Toynbee, “No ideas of what happened to them?”

The blond doctor took the file and flipped through it a bit, “I remember it a little bit. Not much though. It says his mother reported to us that she’d given the child up. So sad that she would rather send her child away out of hate for his mutation than to even hand him over to us. I know we searched for him, but we were never able to recover him. I wonder whatever happened to him...”

Lili bit her tongue against saying anything. From what Toad had always told her, the little bit that he told her, was a horrible woman. Even still, she couldn’t help but wonder how horrible this place might have treated them to make her want to abandon him somewhere else, “Hopefully he’s okay...”

“Yes...according to the lab reports in here, all of his mutations were fixable. With the exception of his tongue and the other amphibian traits. Given more time with him, we were expected to correct the imbalances in his mind and mutation. Could have given him a real fighting chance in the world.”

That made her perk up a bit, “You can correct mutations?”

“Of course,” the woman smiled and folded her arm as she leaned against the doorway, “Not take them away like some would think, but some mutation are painful and hard to live with. We will never take a mutation away from someone, but we can make them more bearable and livable. I’m willing to bet that the reason you’re so thin has to do with your mutation. With a few tests we could find out exactly what is causing it and correct it.”

She stared for a moment before shaking her head, “No...I, uh, I’m fine the way I am,” she’d been through the whole ‘correcting’ thing before on Asteroid M. Lili firmly believed now that she needed to just let nature take it’s course. If that course ended up being a bad one, then so be it. That was her choice to allow.

“Very well,” the woman nodded lightly and handed the file back before heading from the room, “But let me know if you change your mind.”

“I won’t.”

“There it is again. That honesty and straight to the point aspect that I like about you,” she smirked and closed the door behind herself as she left. Lili shuddered a little. She was willing to go as far as to say she hated the doctor.

Right now she had something more important to focus on. She opened up the file again and looked it over. She knew it was wrong, but it made her giggle to think that Toad’s real name was Mortimer. While he’d never called her anything more than ‘Kree’ or ‘Harpy’, and barely that, she’d called him by both his mutant name and his real name. She found it hard to think about them laying together kissing and moaning out the name ‘Mortimer’ instead of ‘Toad’ or ‘Todd’.

She also thought about how his life might have been different if Dr. Mueller had corrected his mutations. He probably would have been a much more tolerable person. She wondered how much of his physical appearance would have been ‘fixed’. He probably would have never asked her out. She had a feeling that if Toad had been more physically appealing, he would be rather full of himself. More so since he already was. Wanda probably would have fallen for him. After all, Pietro was right, that tongue had to be good for something. It made her embarrassed, but when they had been together, she’d thought about it.

Lili shook her head. There was no point in thinking about it. She was with Japheth now and that was what mattered. What didn’t matter was Toad. It didn’t matter if he was part of this project. It didn’t matter what his life would have been like if his mother hadn’t taken him away. And it didn’t matter that it made her stomach feel tight when she thought about him. Toad was thousands of miles away and she got to spend every night in a warm bed with a guy who cared very deeply for her. All she had to do was go home and spend her night with her arms around Japheth’s neck and their lips pressed together to forget about all of this.

Sadly, that didn’t happen. When she got home, there was a note from Japheth stating he had to go back to work and help out with the nightshift. Sighing, she sat on the edge of the couch and tossed a file folder onto the coffee table. She knew it was wrong and that she needed to just forget about it, but she’d stuffed Toad’s file into her purse. She was hoping Japheth would be home to distract her from it, but he wasn’t.

Lili couldn’t help but wonder more and more why Toad’s mother would rather abandon him instead of leave him in the hands of doctors. Her eyes flicked over to the phone. She wondered if she remembered the Brotherhood House number. There was a good chance that it would be disconnected or that the boys weren’t even there anymore. What would she even say? No, she couldn’t call him. Maybe she should call the Professor? It had been months since she talked to anyone from the institute. No. It wasn’t like there was anything weird going on. The research center was open to the public. They couldn’t hide anything.

Her eyes then moved over to the dresser. Lili knew she shouldn’t be thinking about it, but she was. Looking to the note left by Japheth quickly, she got up and made her way to the dresser. She dug to the bottom of the top drawer and pulled out a large, yellow envelope. It was bulged a bit.

Lili sat on the edge of the couch staring at it in her hands. She should have thrown it away a long time ago, but she hadn’t. She knew she was going to regret this. There was nothing in the envelope that was going to make her feel better.

Sighing, she popped the seal on it and dumped the contents out on the table. There wasn’t much and most of it looked like junk. A ticket stub, a chunk of cast with a frog drawn on it, and a crumpled mailing envelope. She picked up the ticket first and smiled. It said _Bayville Sadie Hawkins Dance_ on it. She thought about them dancing together, awkwardly, under the bleachers. Next, she picked up the piece of cast. Under the frog were some scratched out words and then the name ‘Toad’.

Lastly was the letter. She’d never opened it. It still made her angry to think about it. That night had been awful. Not the worse in her life, but just upsetting. Toad busting into her bedroom, getting all cuddly and touchy with her. Her wanting so badly to just let him do whatever he wanted so they could be close to each other. His lips all over her neck and shoulders. His cold fingers rubbing and stroking her spine and wings. Then it all turned sour when she realized that it was all about Wanda.

Biting her lower lip, she debated whether to open it or not. Anytime she thought about it, she decided that there was no reason to bother with it. But right now, she wanted to know. She’d read it and then get rid of it. All of it. The cast piece and the dance ticket too. She’d throw it all out and finally be able to move on when she did. She told herself that was why she couldn’t be with Japheth, because she was still clinging to all of this junk.

Taking a deep breath, she tore the envelope open and pulled the papers out from inside. There were three sheets. The first two that she unfolded were filled with bad handwriting.

_Lili,_

_I’m sorry. I know it was wrong to lead you on. I don’t know why I do the things that I do. I just can’t help it. You were right. I did help Magneto hurt you. I told him you were the weak link in the X-Men. I didn’t know he was going to brainwash you, but I knew he was going to take you. I didn’t feel bad about it at all. I figured, you know, if it worked then you might still like me and I’d end up with a pretty girlfriend. When I saw you, you were gorgeous. I thought ‘yes, everyone is gonna be so jealous of me’. For once, I’d have something for everyone to envy. A beautiful girl who liked me and was smart. No one would pick on me anymore...but then you attacked me. I realized you knew what I’d done, but I still didn’t feel bad about it. I was upset._

_Then you wouldn’t talk to me and I got angry, so I started telling people that we were together. I wanted you to have no choice but to talk to me and be with me. No other guy in school would even think to take interest in you if they thought we had ever been together. I knew, eventually, you’d like me again and let me kiss you and stuff again._

_When you wanted to dance with me, it felt so nice. It was the first time I felt bad about everything. I didn’t think you really liked me. I thought you were just settling for me because no one else would be with you. I thought we could just be together and deal with it._

_But then Wanda showed up. We were already together when she joined the Brotherhood. She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. So strong too. Every time we started kissing, all I could think about was her. I wanted so badly for it to be her. For her to just even look at me. I wanted, so many times, to ask you to use your image inducer to look like her. Just so I could know what it would feel like. Just once._

_I figured you’d understand, because I didn’t think you really liked me, but then you got so angry at the mall. I should have felt bad when I realized how much you liked me, but I didn’t. I felt angry because you didn’t understand._

_Lili, the look on your face when I tried to get your inducer...I’m really sorry. You weren’t settling for me. You really wanted me. I don’t know why, but you did._

_The worst part of it all was that I did get Wanda to kiss me. I had to pretend to be someone else and the moment she realized it was me, she shoved me away and it looked like she was going to puke. Even after that, I still wanted her...I think I love her..._

Lili’s chest felt tight as she read it. It wasn’t making her feel better to read any of this. She wanted to find Toad just to slap him for writing any of it. She kept reading though.

_I know Wanda will never like me. Not even a little bit. She’ll always think I’m under her. That I’m just some kind of pest. I didn’t lie when I said that people like us don’t get the same chances as everyone else, but we still have the same feelings as them._

_At least I didn’t think we did till I saw you with that red guy. I saw the way he looked at you. He likes you. I didn’t think it was fair that you got to be with someone like that when I can’t. That’s one of the reasons I went to get your inducer. I wanted to see if you liked him or if you still liked me._

_I don’t expect you to forgive me for any of it. I’m not a good person._

_You told me when I last saw you that I was too busy trying to get Wanda’s attention to notice that you were giving it to me. I just want you to know that I did notice. I noticed everything about you._

_Like how your favorite color is green. How the corner of your mouth twitches when you’re really angry. Or how your wings flick up a little when you’re happy. Or that your favorite band is No Doubt. And how your eyes would glaze over with boredom when I talked about comic books, even though you still listened and never told me to stop. How you pretended to be okay with the way you look, but you still did everything you could to keep people from seeing you. Like never answering questions in class and always wearing the same, plain clothes so you never stuck out._

_You never wanted anyone to notice you, except me._

_I hope you’ll talk to me again someday._

Lili was fighting the urge to cry at this point. She wanted to hate Toad for writing that. She thought about balling it all up and throwing it out without looking at the last paper, but she knew she’d just constantly think about it if she did.

She unfolded it with one hand, wiping her eyes with the other. It made her chest tighten even more when she looked at it. It was a drawing of herself. She knew Toad liked to draw and that he wasn’t very good, but this one looked nice. It was her wearing the dress she’d worn on their first ‘date’. She’d only worn it the one time around him. There was so much detail in the drawing.

She wiped her eyes again as she started stuffing everything back into the yellow envelope. Lili knew she had to throw it away and just be done with it. None of it changed anything. He was still a selfish jerk who cared more about himself than anyone else. That was what mattered.

But she didn’t. She tucked everything back under her socks and shoved the drawer closed. Her stomach was hurting now. All she wanted to do was go to sleep, even though it was still early.

Groaning a bit, she crawled into bed and curled up under the blankets.

She didn’t know how long she laid there, but she heard the door open and Japheth made his way over to the bed, “Lili, are you alright?” he probably figured she would be asleep by now, but she was just laying there staring off the side of the bed.

“...I don’t feel good...” she groaned softly.

“What’s wrong?” he asked as he knelt down beside the bed and reached out to touch her cheek, “Lili, you’re burning up.”

“I’ll be fine...” she said weakly.

“I don’t know about that. I’m going to call Dr. Milbury,” he started to get up and she reached out and gripped his arm weakly.

“I’ll be alright. Really. I’m just tired.”

But he shook his head and pulled his arm away, “No. I’m calling Dr. Milbury. I’ve never seen you sick before and you look awful,” she tried to stop him again, but he went for the phone and started dialing.

Groaning, she rolled over onto her other side and to face her back to him to show her displeasure. Lili didn’t like doctors. While Dr. Milbury didn’t bother her much, she didn’t want him poking around her medical history or creating more history for her. She knew he worked with Dr. Mueller and would likely tell her about it too. Lili didn’t want to become one of their subjects.

He came up behind her, “Dr. Milbury and Dr. Mueller are going to come over,” his fingers touched her back, “God, you’re burning...” hearing that both of them were going to be here made her squeeze her eyes shut and she curled up a little, “Please up don’t be angry with me, Lili. I just want to make sure you’re not sick or anything. When did you start feeling like this?”

“...I’m not upset. I just don’t like doctors...” she grumbled, “My stomach started hurting before I came home...”

Japheth nodded lightly and said nothing else. He just sat on the edge of the bed and stroked her back till the doctors showed up. She turned over and watched Japheth talk to them quietly across the room. Dr. Mueller looked over at her and she couldn’t help the small glare she gave to the woman. She knew she shouldn’t, but she wanted to blame the blond doctor for it all. Logically, she knew she couldn’t, but that didn’t stop her from feeling that way.

Mueller stayed with Japheth across the room and kept talking as Milbury came over to the bedside with his bag, “Japheth says you started feeling this way earlier today?” to which she nodded, “Did you eat anything strange?” he asked as he pulled an infrared thermometer from his bag and scanned her forehead.

“No...I didn’t eat...” she couldn’t make herself with how tight her stomach felt.

“You really shouldn’t go without eating. Japheth says you have a hyper metabolism. You really should be eating five or six meals a day,” she knew all of this. She’d known it all her life. She didn’t need a doctor telling it to her, “Are you sexually active?” she knew what he was hinting at, but before she could answer, the others in the room felt the need to do it for her.

“Miss. Kline is a virgin. Unless that has changed since we first met...” Mueller commented and Lili’s face soured.

“I’m still a virgin.”

“Alright, that means we can rule pregnancy out,” he smiled lightly, trying not to upset her about it, “It may just be food related then, though your temperature is awfully high for it to be just that. Are you under any stress?”

Lili lied, “No.”

He nodded, “Very well,” he didn’t sound like he believed her. He didn’t ask anything else as he did the normal doctor things and checked her throat, ears, and such, “Well, I don’t see anything wrong. It might be an infection of some kind. We can’t test for that here. I’d like for you to go to the research center to have some tests done.”

“Can’t I just go to the hospital?” she groaned. It was bad enough she worked at that place, she didn’t want to stay the night there.

“The research center is closer and better equipped for mutants. I’ll call an ambulance.”

“No...I can walk. It’s just down the street,” she pushed up to a sitting, her arms shaking a little.

Japheth rushed over and wrapped an arm around her torso, “Oh no you don’t. If you won’t take an ambulance,” which there was no way they could get her in there with her wingspan if she didn’t want to be in there, “I’ll carry you,” he hefted her up into his arms, to which she groaned in protest.

“I’m not a child, Japheth.”

“I know you’re not, but you’re in no shape to be walking,” he stated as she submitted and slipped her arms around his neck, “You’re a pain in the ass when you’re sick. Did you know that?” he tried to lighten the mood.

She managed a small smile, “Yeah...” she muttered before laying her head on his shoulder and letting her eyes slip shut.


	30. Chapter 30

“Can I go home? I’ve been here for three days. Aren’t the tests back yet?” she whined a little as she squirmed on the hospital bed, “I know that stuff takes a while, but three days?” she said into the phone, “I know I need to be patient, Japheth. I feel better now though,” she sighed, “I’ll stay. I promise. But only because you’re asking me to,” it wasn’t like they could force her to stay, “I miss you too,” he had to work late tonight, so he wasn’t coming by to see her, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

No sooner did she hang up the phone did Dr. Mueller come in smiling, “How are you doing tonight, Miss. Kline?” up till the morning after her first night here, Mueller had been one of those beautiful, but cold people. Yet her personality seemed to take a one-eighty. She walked across the room and put the back of her hand against Lili’s forehead, “No fever.”

“Uh, yeah, I noticed...” she pulled her head away from the cold hand, “Can I go home?”

“Not just yet. Just because the fever is gone doesn’t mean the infection is gone. Until we know exactly what it is, I don’t want you going home, overworking yourself, and then ending up sick again.”

“I wasn’t overworked.”

“Oh, Miss. Kline, you don’t have to lie to me about that,” it made Lili frown as the blond woman took a seat on the edge of the hospital bed, “I was your age once.”

“I’m sure you were. That’s the natural order of things. Born young, get old,” she snipped.

Mueller chuckled a little, “That it is usually how it goes, but what I really meant was that I’ve been where you are. A young woman, having trouble finding a job, a boyfriend who undoubtedly pushes for certain things, no family, few friends. Then you find a job and that just piles on the stress. You stop eating, you get emotional...it’s only natural that you end up sick at some point. Just be thankful that you have someone in your life who cares enough to take care of you. I didn’t.”

Lili looked the woman over for a moment before deciding it wasn’t worth it to ask questions, “Japheth doesn’t push,” Toad pushed. Japheth asked, “I’m not under stress and I’m not emotional. I had an infection, which is probably gone now and I’d like to go home.”

The woman smiled and pat one of her legs, “Not yet. Tests aren’t back yet.”

“How much longer is it going to take?” she wanted out of here.

“Shouldn’t be much longer. Things are more complicated when dealing with mutants, even medical procedures. Try to get some sleep, Miss. Kline,” she rubbed Lili’s leg and the young girl pulled it away. Lili was starting to think she preferred Mueller the way she was before, “I’ll come check on you in the morning.”

The woman slipped out and Lili groaned as she went limp back against the bed. At least the research center was smart enough to have beds to accommodate mutants like herself. It wasn’t the most comfortable bed, but for the first time in her life, she was able to lay on her back comfortably with her wings poking through the hole in the bed. 

Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and eventually drifted off to sleep. It wasn’t till she heard the sound of a door closing that her eyes popped back open. She looked around and didn’t see anyone. Though in her sleepy haze, she did see the file folder sitting on her lap. She stretched before picking it up off her legs and glancing at it. The name on it was her name, “Must be the lab results...” she said with a yawn. In her sleepy mind, she didn’t think anything strange of a lab report being left with the patient and not being taken to the doctor.

It didn’t take long for her to realize that it wasn’t a blood test for infections or anything like that. The file was old. At least nineteen years by the dates on the papers.

_Dear Dr. Nathan Milbury:_

_Thank you for referring this patient who was seen on 12/13/1982 regarding the possibility of surrogacy._

_She is a good candidate. We’re going to proceed._

_Sincerely yours,  
Dr. Amanda Mueller ___

__She perked up a little reading that. Even tired, she could do the math. She was born at the end of August, which was around nine months after this letter was dated in a file with her name. She was wide awake now as she started reading more, “Oh my god...” she put a hand to her mouth as she read over hand written reports. Each one was dated at least within a week of the last. They were detailed reports starting with the implanting of an embryo and then detailed through the pregnancy. Everything from the heart rate to the size of the mother’s stomach as the pregnancy went on. There wasn’t a single detail left out. It was just like the reports she’d been entering into the computer. So much detail, yet one detail was left out. None of the reports stated who the egg or sperm donors were. It said that both were donated, but not who had donated._ _

__It wasn’t till a nurse came in with some food that she realized she’d been sitting reading and rereading the file for several hours and it was morning. The moment the door started to open, she tossed the cover sheet off her body and over the papers, “Good morning, Lili,” the nurse said with the smile, “Is there anything I can get you? We’ll be coming to take your vitals in an hour.”_ _

__“I was wondering where Dr. Mueller’s office was. I wanted to speak with her,” as calm as she said it, Lili was fuming on the inside. She wanted to scream and cry. She was confused and frustrated._ _

__“It’s down the hall, but if you need to speak with her, I’ll have her come see you. I think she was planning on coming to see you around lunch anyway. You shouldn’t be up and moving around yet,” the nurse gave her a stern look before heading from the room._ _

__Lili waited till she was sure the woman was away before pulling the file back out and reading through them again. She was finding it hard to believe that her parents knew Mueller. She hadn’t spoken to her mother since she left for the institute and she hadn’t spoken to her father since the car accident when he sent her to Magneto. Her father hated mutants. The notes in the file stated that they knew she was a mutant early on. Why would they chose to keep her if they knew she was a mutant? It didn’t make any sense. Lili hated to think that anyone would make this file just to upset her._ _

__She knew she had to figure out if this was real or not._ _

__Dr. Mueller had somewhat remembered Toad from that many years ago, so she had to remember Lili too. Then again, maybe she didn’t. There was that chance that she was one of the low class mutants that Mueller had seen a hundred times and saw no reason to remember._ _

__Sighing, she stuffed all the papers back together and shoved the file under her pillow as she debated what to do. Should she go and demand answers from Mueller or should she try to figure it out on her own first? Maybe she should call her parents? No, Lili knew that was no use. She knew they wouldn’t be interested in talking to her or giving her answers._ _

__Lili knew the logical thing to do would be to wait and convince Mueller to give her answers, but she didn’t want to wait. She wanted answers now. If her parents weren’t really her parents, she wanted to know who was. She also wanted to know what they’d done to her while her mother was pregnant. There wasn’t a single file she’d been through since working here that didn’t have them doing some kind of experiment on the children. There wasn’t anything listed in her file, but she knew that didn’t mean anything. All it took was for one person to forget to write something down. She also wanted to know who had left the file on her bed._ _

__She threw the blanket off herself and hopped off the bed, grabbing the file. Lili knew she should be careful about this, but she wasn’t thinking clearly right now. She just wanted answers. It was time to be like Logan. Just barrel in headfirst and get what she wanted. Granted, she could never cause the damage that Logan did. Lili didn’t think anyone could cause that much damage._ _

__She opened the door slowly and poked her head out. She looked around and didn’t see anyone. She bit her lip and started down the hallway barefoot and in her hospital gown. Japheth had take her clothes home and was supposed to bring her clean ones. She held the file in one hand and made sure the back of her gown stayed closed with the other._ _

__It didn’t take long to find Mueller’s office. It seemed like a stroke of luck that the door was cracked open. The blond woman wasn’t inside and Lili tucked the file under her arm as she closed the door behind her and rushed behind the desk. Everything looked normal in the office. Just a desk, lots of papers, a computer, and a filing cabinet. Everything was organized and very impersonal. Just as she expected it to be. Mueller didn’t seem the type of person to keep pictures or anything personal around her work space._ _

__Her first thought was to go for the computer, but after entering the password incorrectly three times, she realized that was a bust. Her eyes then flicked to the file cabinet and she started pulling the drawers open and looking through the files. It wasn’t till she got to the second drawer that she found anything out of sorts. There was a small box tucked in the back of the drawer. Lili tugged it free and yanked the top open. It was filled with news clippings and pictures._ _

__Most of the pictures were of children. Just looking at some of them, she could tell they were mutant children. All of them had dates on the bottom of the pictures. A start date and an end date. It didn’t take her long to realize they were birth and death dates. What sickened her was that most of them were within a month of each other._ _

__The newspaper clippings were disturbing as well. They were very old, but she couldn’t date them. All dried out and chipping from age. She pulled them out carefully and read what she could off of them. There were faded pictures of a tall woman with her head down to keep away from the camera being lead around handcuffed. The article was about her being accused of killing her children before they were born. Another labeled her as the ‘Black Womb Killer’ stating that she only got pregnant so she could kill the babies before and after they were born. A final one stated that she’d been acquitted thanks to the testimony of Dr. Nathan Milbury and stated her name to be Amanda Mueller._ _

__“Milbury...Mueller...” she said softly before rereading it, “Oh my god...” she knew Milbury was a mutant just by looking at him, but she hadn’t seen or heard anything about Mueller to say that she was one too. Still, it was too much of a coincidence that the names lined up like that. It was possible that one of them could be related to the people in the clippings, but not both of them and with the same names. She didn’t know how old the clippings were, but she knew that they had to be very old and there was no way that the two of them could look as young as they did and be the people in the clippings._ _

__The sound of the door opening got her attention and she started cramming everything back into the box. Luck ran out for her as she was still holding it in her hands when the blond doctor came in, “Lili,” she sounded surprised to see the avian mutant in her office. Her eyes fixated on the box, “Well, someone has been doing some reading. Find anything interesting?”_ _

__“Dr. Mueller...I...” she looked down at her hands as the woman closed the office door and locked it, “You’re a mutant.”_ _

__“Yes.”_ _

__“And immortal.”_ _

__“Sort of. There’s more to it than that.”_ _

__“So is Dr. Milbury.”_ _

__“Again, there’s more to it than that.”_ _

__“You killed your own children.”_ _

__“I did what I had to do,” she smiled and looked down at her desk. Lili’s file was sitting on it, “Where’d you get that?”_ _

__“Someone gave it to me.”_ _

__The blond woman snached it off the desk, “Who?” she demanded._ _

__“I...I don’t know...I was sleeping and it was left on my bed...” she was starting to feel a little scared._ _

__“I see. I supposed we have quite the situation here.”_ _

__“Yeah...Listen, I just want to know if that file is real. I want to know if my parents aren’t my real parents, I want who is.”_ _

__“When I first met you, I had a feeling that you were one of the children born from my research, but I wasn’t sure. It was a stroke of luck that you got sick and I could finally take blood from you to confirm it. I do know who your parents are and it isn’t the Klines. Mrs. Kline was infertile and Mr. Kline had a low sperm count. We couldn’t use either of them to parent you. Neither of them were mutants either. Normally, I would never take on non-mutant patients, but they seemed desperate and it was good for a new experiment.”_ _

__“So who are my parents?”_ _

__She smiled and shook her head, “If I give you something, you have to give me something.”_ _

__“What do you want?”_ _

__“It’s simple. Join my research. One child and you sign it over to the center. After the first trimester, I’ll tell you who they are. Japheth doesn’t have to be the father, but if not him, then I want to select who the sperm donor is.”_ _

__Lili’s face twisted in disgust and she gripped the box tightly, “How about you tell me or I send this stuff to the authorities? I’m sure they’d love to know that a woman accused of killing her own children is running a research program for children.”_ _

__“Go ahead. Trust me, it won’t be the first time my reputation has been called into question. I got out of it then, in World War II, and I’ll get out of it now. Mutants are known to the world, but do you really think they’ll believe in someone immortal? It’s hard enough for people to swallow that there are mutants. To hear that one is immortal would just scare them. You don’t want to be the cause for setting back mutant and human relations already, do you?” Lili looked down at the floor as she thought about what Mueller was saying, “You know what? I don’t have time to play these games. I’ll tell you who your parents are, but I promise you won’t like hearing it.”_ _

__“I also want to know what you did to me. You’ve injected and run all sorts of experiments on these kids. I refuse to believe I’m the only one you didn’t. I want to know what you did,” she added in quickly._ _

__Mueller chuckled a little, “Alright, but after I tell you who your parents are, you probably won’t care.”_ _

__“I don’t know much about your father. He was called ‘Emplate’. We were never able to track down what his real name was. He had such incredible abilities. I remember being a little upset, even pushing for termination, when I realized you probably wouldn’t develop any of his abilities. He was hideous and very powerful. Just to live, he had to siphon energy off of other mutant, usually killing them in the process. We impregnated several women with his sperm in exchange for giving him mutants to siphon from. You’re mother was the only one that the pregnancy took in. That’s the only reason you weren’t terminated,” she stated it so plainly and easily. Like it meant nothing at all to her, “I have a picture of him somewhere, but I really don’t think you want to see it. Like I said, he was hideous. I suspect he had abilities he didn’t tell us about, but he disappeared. Literally disappeared. There was an argument over his contact, I left the room for a few seconds, and when I went back he was gone.”_ _

__Lili stared at her as she explained who her father was. He sounded like a horrible person. Especially the fact that he had to kill people to survive, “W-what about....my mother?” she wasn’t sure if she wanted to know now._ _

__“A beautiful woman. She was more than thrilled when she realized she didn’t have to sleep with your father. That it could all just be done through machines,” she smiled and walked over to brush a bit of hair out of Lili’s face, “She was disappointed when you were born and the way you looked. You were so frail and small. She’d really been hoping that the combination of such strong mutants would create an amazing being. She was ready to have you handed over completely to the center and join all of those other mutants pictured in that box for the sake of research.”_ _

__“What was her name?” it was upsetting to her that her mutant parents had hated her as much as her non-mutants ones, “Why wasn’t I given over?”_ _

__Mueller just smiled and leaned in closer, “Mr. Kline hated what you were, but Mrs. Kline convinced him that they had to take care of you. What we’d done wasn’t technically legal and we couldn’t force her to hand you over without revealing mutants to the world. So they took off with you and we weren’t able to track you down.”_ _

__“...what was her name?” she asked again._ _

__“You know...” Mueller reached over and set a hand on her shoulder, “My hair used to be just like yours. A good bottle of hair dye can take care of that, Sweetie. Just think of that as motherly advice,” she shoved hard into Lili’s shoulder, pushing the girl back into the file cabinet and bouncing her head off one of the drawers, “I really had hoped it wouldn’t come to this and we could have bonded, but you think I’m just a bitch. Oh well, I was never good at bonding with my children,” Lili slumped to the floor, having dropped the box of photos and news clippings when she hit the cabinet. Her head was spinning as Mueller talked, “Japheth is going to miss you.”_ _

__That was the last thing she heard before her eyes rolled back and everything went black._ _


	31. Chapter 31

“I think she’s waking up.”

“Poor thing. She’s lucky that bump to her head didn’t crack her skull.”

Lili groaned as she opened her eyes and looked around. It was dark, but she could see the outlines of people. The room was cold too and there was the sound of dripping water. It was like those bad movies where someone ends up in a bad prison, “The hell happened...” she groaned as she pushed to sit up and look around better. Her head was throbbing, “Japheth?” she called out for her boyfriend.

“Sorry, Lili, but he’s not down here,” the voice sounded familiar and she did her best to focus on the one saying it.

It was a tall, dark haired man. His clothing looked tight in some places, but baggy in others. Like it was stuck to him, “Tar Baby?” 

“Yeah,” he moved closer to her and knelt down. He knew better than to try to touch her, else they’d be stuck together for a while, “You okay?”

“I’m fine...Mueller, she pushed me,” it made her head hurt more thinking about it.

“So it was Mueller that got you, huh?”

“Yeah. Where are we? How’d you all get down here?” she glanced around the room again as her eyes started adjusting. Tar Baby was the only one she knew personally, but there were a few that she could have sworn she’d seen around the streets since she first got to Genosha. 

“Mueller got me too,” a young girl piped up. She looked a year or two younger than herself. She was very beautiful. Her body was long and slender. She had long, soft brown hair and chocolate brown eyes that seemed to glint in the dark when she turned her head, “I couldn’t find a job, so I went to Mueller hoping for something. She tried to rope me into her little breeding program, but I wouldn’t do it. Then I got sick and Dr. Mueller somehow got me here from the hospital. My name’s Catiana.”

Tar Baby spoke up next, “I got injured at work. I was just going to ignore it, but the street cleaning company insisted I go see Dr. Milbury for insurance reasons. I got there and he had me in an exam room. Then I black out and woke up here...” he shook his head a little bit, “Bliss is down here too. I don’t know where though, but I’ve seen her. Tarquin is down here too. They use him to break up fights and keep us calm if we get out of hand...”

Lili listened as a few of the others told their stories. They all ended the same. They’d either go see Mueller or Milbury for something and they would end up blacking out and waking up down here. The fact that they were using poor Tarquin to keep them docile was disgusting.

“What exactly do they do with us down here?” she reached up and touched around her neck. Even though she didn’t use it anymore, she always wore her image inducer, but it was gone now. In it’s place was a thick collar. There was a box on the front of it, “And what’s this?”

A young boy named Hack explained, “They use us as labor. Genosha is hell. When they run out of housing, they grab some of us and force us into slave labor so that they can reopen their ports and let more mutants come in. Sometimes they contract us out to other countries as labor...some don’t come back.”

“That’s awful, but what about the collars?”

“Somehow, it suppresses our powers. If it didn’t, I could tell you how it worked,” the boy nodded to himself, “Don’t try to pry it off though. A few have tied that...” everyone got quiet.

“W-what happens?”

“It explodes.”

“Oh god...” her hand immediately dropped away from the collar.

“The worst part is...,” Tar started, “...that they use other mutants to keep us in line. Milbury’s personal assistant. He’s cruel.”

“Yeah, he’s some kind of shapeshifter. He makes us call Milbury either Master or Mr. Sinister when he’s around. He’s not above beating someone senseless when we don’t obey him,” someone else commented.

Lili shook her head, “We have to get out of here.”

Hack laughed, “Please, Genosha has been doing this for decades. If no one has gotten out by now, no one is going to. If you act up, they’re going to do more to you than just use you for slave labor.”

“Like what?”

Catiana spoke up this time, “Girls go missing. Sometimes a guy or two, but mostly the girls. They tried to get me once, but I grabbed a rat and used it to make myself a bit too unpleasant,” Lili didn’t understand what a rat had to do with anything, but figured it had to do with the girl’s mutation.

“Not just that kind of stuff either, but sometimes they’ll take you for experiments. There was a guy last month that caused a problem and the next time we saw him, he was one of our slave drivers. His eyes were all dead and cold. It was like he was a zombie.”

“Oh, you all sound so sad and depressed. Don’t worry, Miss. Kline, you won’t be used for anything as unsavory as slave labor or anything like that. Your blood is far too valuable for that,” Mueller’s voice floated in and most of the mutants in the cell inched towards the back wall.

Lili got to her feet quickly and rushed over to the bars, “Let us out of here, you bitch. All of us. I’m not going to be one of your breeding dogs.”

Mueller laughed a little and smiled, “Maybe not right now, but you’ll probably be begging for it by the time we’re done with you. And when you do, I’ll let you, but you won’t get the comfort of just being implanted. I’m going to make you do it the old fashion way and it won’t be with Japheth. As curious as I am about his mutation, I have a different subject in mind for you. Hopefully his abilities will allow a child between you two to flourish the way you should have.”

“You’re disgusting,” she sneered.

“We could fix all of this right now if you just agree to do it. I’ll even let you use Japheth if you choose to do it now instead of later. He really is a handsome man and strong too. I haven’t had the comfort of a man in a long time...” Lili lunged and her arm shot out. Her claw like fingernails came close to reaching Mueller’s flawless face and the woman laughed, “What do you say, Lili? Go through it now or risk it?”

“Go to hell,” she growled.

“Very well...” she raised her hand and motioned for someone to come over from behind her, “Bring her up to the lab. I need some more blood and be careful with her, her bones are fragile. Break a few fingers if you need to, but nothing more than that. Take her to Milbury’s lab,” Mueller unlocked the door, but none of the other mutants made a break for it as she left it wide open.

Lili knew she shouldn’t, but she took off running. She didn’t get far before a pair of arms shot out of the shadows and grabbed her around the waist, “What’s the rush?” the voice was smooth and sent a shiver down her spine, “You got an appointment with the doctor,” the voice laughed before turning her around. His face was long and narrow, very pale too. His eyes were sunken and seemed like they were ringed with years of lack of sleep.

“Fuck you,” she didn’t swear often, but it felt like a good time to do it, “You can go to hell with her,” she swung her elbow back and hit him in the gut. Her wings shot up and pushed him back as she took off again. She ran past at least a dozen other small cells. The mutants in them shouted at her, but she knew she couldn’t stop. She wanted to help them, but she could hear pounding footsteps behind her. If she stopped to help them now, she’d only get caught again. She had to get out and contact the Professor.

Rounding a corner, Lili stopped and held her breath as she pressed herself back against the wall and waited for him to come around the corner as well. She threw her first out and it connected with his face. Pain shot up from her knuckles and she knew she’d broken something in her hand. It didn’t matter, because he fell back to the floor and she took off again.

Lili turned another corner and found herself at a dead end, “No!” she growled and pounded her fists on the wall as he came up behind her and chuckled. Without thinking, she tried to scream, but it the ringing in her ears that she was expecting. It was just screaming. Normal screaming. She forgot about the collar.

He laughed again and shook his head, “Oh, this is wonderful. You ran, so I get to use necessary force to take you back,” his hands clasped together and he cracked his knuckles, “I love feisty women. Come on, give me your best shot,” he motioned for her to charge him, but Lili didn’t take the bait and shook her head, “Oh come on, be a good sport. Let’s make this fun. Just so you know, when you finally beg Dr. Mueller to take pity on you and let you join the breeding program, I’m the one you get to be with. I asked for the job personally.”

Her face twisted in anger, “You freak.”

“Now, now, don’t think badly of me. I have my reasons. I love mutant women who really look like what they are. I can’t stand the ones like Mueller who can go out in public without anything thinking twice about her. Women who don’t even try to hide it. It’s so refreshing and such a turn on.”

Her hands balled up into fists, “Shut up...” she growled.

“I’ve seen you around the research center for the past few weeks. I kept asking Mueller if I could talk to you, but she said it wasn’t the right time,” she felt herself getting angrier as he spoke, “Trust me, my intentions towards you are not just for perverted reasons,” he took a step towards her and she stepped back, “I wanted to get my hands on you for another reason.”

“I don’t care,” she snapped and finally charged him. He braced himself as she slammed into his body. It absorbed the blow and she looked up at his face as it started to change. It was like hundreds of invisible hands were pushing and pulling at putty as his face changed. His nose sunk in and his lips flattened out. His skin changed to a bluish color, but the dark rings remained around his eyes, “Morph...?!”

“That’s right, Darling. Miss me?” he smirked before grabbing a fist full of her hair and tugging on it painfully as he started down the hallway, “I bet you haven’t thought about me even once. Meanwhile, I’ve thought about you everyday, Kree,” since leaving the X-Men, so few people called her by that name.

“Morph...you...you were...” it was hard to form a thought when something she’d thought was dead for the past three years was dragging her, unwillingly, down a jail cell lined hallway.

“Dead? I was, at least mostly, thanks to you. You left me for dead on that rock. You’re little scream broke the molecules in my body and destabilized them. I was in the process of reforming when you and your little friends blew the place up. Well, Darling, it’s your turn now,” the smile on his face was almost sickening.

Lili started kicking and pulling against his grip, “I didn’t leave you. I swear!” she felt her eyes watering as he pulled her hair harder.

“Like hell you didn’t! I had to wait around for someone like Mr. Sinister to turn up and put me back together after what you did.”

“Morph, this isn’t like you. Please, stop...” she started crying as he tugged her up some stairs, “Magneto brainwashed me. Why would I make that up?!”

“People say the damnedest things when they’re scared, Darling. Sadly for you, I’m not falling for it. I fell for you once, Kree, but I won’t make that mistake again. You’re just a wretched little birdie. Like I said, Darling, you’re going to know just what it felt like...” he said as he pushed through a door and dragged her with.

“What’re they going to do to me, Morph?” she cried as he dragged her across a white lab room and shoved her against a metal table.

“Get up there,” he ordered.

“Morph...”

“I said...Get. Up. There,” he growled and pointed at the table. She shook her head a little. If he wanted her on that table, he was going to have to put her there, “Dammit, Darling...” he grabbed her shoulders and shoved her hard against the table again, “Get up!” she shook her head again and he grabbed one of her arms before turning her to face the table. He twisted her arm back and she whimpered, “Get up,” but she refused his order again and he growled as he kicked the back of her knees enough to get them to bend before hefting her up onto the table face down.

“Morph, what are they doing to do to me?”

“You wouldn’t want me to ruin the surprise, would you?” he said with a smile as he held her down with one hand and started grabbing the straps hanging off the side of the table to strap her down. He pulled them tight and she groaned in pain, “I’ll see you later, Darling,” he said softly as he leaned down to kiss her cheek.

“Morph?” but he didn’t answer. She heard his footsteps and the door opening, “Morph?!” but he still didn’t answer. The light flicked off and she started to struggle, “Morph!” but all she heard was a door closing. The room was completely silent. The only thing she could hear was the leather straps straining to hold her wings down and her own breathing.

Eventually, she went limp against the table. Tears leaked from the corner of her eyes as she laid there. She couldn’t see, hear, or even smell anything. All she could feel was the cold table under her and even that, eventually, warmed and felt like nothing. If felt like she was going to be in here forever.


	32. Chapter 32

Lili wasn’t sure how long she laid there, but when the lights flicked back on, she groaned and squeezed her eyes shut, “Who’s there?” she muttered out.

“Good morning, Miss. Kline,” it was the smooth voice of Dr. Milbury, “Sorry for taking so long, but I had some business to take care of in the hospital,” she tried to twist her head to see him, but couldn’t, “A little sensory deprivation never hurt anybody anyway. Gives one the time to think.”

“What’re you going to do to me...?” she wasn’t sure if she wanted to know.

“A few things. Mueller wants some blood samples, but I need more than that.”I find it best to talk while I work. Do you mind that?” he didn’t wait for her to answer, “Good. Now let’s get started,” he finally stepped into her line of sight. He looked mostly the same as the last time she saw him, but there was a red, glowing jewel in his forehead. She wanted to question it, but it felt like there were more important matters at hand.

“Please. Let me go,” Lili didn’t like to beg, but she knew she was the one at a disadvantage currently.

“I’m sorry, but that would be foolish to do. Let me explain, Miss. Kline. I collect DNA from mutants. I have been since the nineteenth century. I wasn’t always a mutant and I’m not sure I classify as one. I was transformed into what I am,” he talked as he made sure to set a table of medical tools right in front of her face. The tray was filled with all sorts of needles and knives.

“Like a vampire?” she knew it was silly, but it was the first thing to pop into her head.

He laughed a little, “You’re not the first to think that, but no, not a vampire. Just very powerful,” he smiled and picked up a pair of long tweezers, “What I do best is collecting DNA and using it to enhance my own, but I use it for other purposes as well. Your abilities are useless to me, at least the ones I know about so far, but they might be useful for some of my side projects,” he talked as he walked out of her line of sight and she strained to find him again, “Mueller thinks that the abilities you have are all that you have. Personally, I think she’s wrong. She thinks so highly of her own ability, but it’s really minimal when compared to others that have similar abilities. Your father, however, was really one of a kind.”

“You knew my father?” though the question was forgotten as he pried one of her small wings free of the straps, “What’re you doing?” she started to kick frantically as she felt him stretch it out. The wing tugged against his grip, but he held on tight.

“Careful, you don’t want to break it. Broken wings can be difficult to repair,” he sounded almost concerned, “I just need a few feather samples. Trust me, you should enjoy the feather collecting considering the rest of this is going to be rather painful...” he plucked the first feather and she shuddered from the stinging feel. She’d shed feathers before, but never had any pulled like he was doing now. Each one he took made her twitch and her fingernails dug into the metal table top, “I knew your father briefly. I know more about him than Mueller does. He had siblings. Three that I know of. An older sister and two younger twin sisters. All mutants.”

Lili tried to focus on what he was saying and not the damage that was being done to her wings, but it was hard. By the time he was done, she decided she was never going to eat chicken again if that is what the poor birds had to go through, “W-why do you think....I have more powers?”

“Because, one doesn’t come from the family you did without having more. Physically, you look nothing like them, but mutations change appearances all the time. Powers, however, tend to be genetic in some ways. The abilities you have are not related to the family you come from, so they must still be buried. I intend to bring them out,” he said with a smile as he came back around the front of the table, holding a bag filled with different sized feathers, all with bits of blood on the bottom of them, “I wish I could have got a full DNA sample from him before he disappeared. Have you ever had bone marrow extracted before, Miss. Kline?”

“N-no...”

“From what I gather, it’s quite painful,” she watched him pick up a strange looking needle from the table and pop it free from the sterilized wrapping, “There are easier and quicker ways of doing it, but I prefer the old fashion way. Normally, I don’t allow anyone else to watch while I do my procedures, but my assistant insisted that he be here. You don’t mind, do you?” she was going to beg him not to do this, but he didn’t give her the chance to speak, “I didn’t think so. Morph!” he shouted and the door opened soon after, “You can watch, but stay over there,” he pointed behind himself and the shapeshifting mutant made his way over.

He stood in front of Lili as Milbury gathered what he needed and moved to her side. The last time he’d seen her on a medical table, she’d been there willingly and even trying to calm her down. But this time, he just stared at her with cold, dead eyes. Just standing, unmoving and unblinking, “Please...Morph...” she pleaded with him as she felt Milbury’s hands move the hospital gown she was still wearing to expose her entire back.

“Morph, I normally don’t ask for the opinion of others, but since you were so insistent on being here, I’ll let you decide. Should I give her a local anesthetic or not? It doesn’t matter to me. I generally prefer not to.”

The putty like man didn’t even hesitate to answer, “No. She has a high tolerance for pain and her bones are fragile anyway. No reason to waste the medicine. With the collar, we don’t have to worry about the screams.”

Her eyes watered and she put her forehead down on the table to keep from looking at him. She didn’t understand why he was being so cruel. The Morph she remembered wasn’t like that. The last thing she remembered about him was after going through Magento’s Chamber. She’d called him a liar and firmly believed she’d killed him. She remembered the look on his face when he begged her not to do it. Lili knew he had reason to be angry, but the Morph she knew wouldn’t wish or help this kind of treatment on anyone. 

“Very well. Let’s get started,” Milbury sound overly excited to be shoving a needle into someone’s back. She felt the needle tip touch the back of her hip and she twitched, “Careful now. You don’t want to move, I might make a mistake,” Lili knew she wasn’t getting out of this and her whole body tensed up as she felt him pushing down on the needle. She gasped as it punctured the skin with a sickening _pop_ , “Almost there,” he sounded cheerful. It hurt, but not near as much as she was expecting. What hurt the most was feeling Morph’s cold eyes on her as Milbury did it. Her nail dug into the metal table, “You have strong nails,” he talked, but the other two in the room seemed to be paying little attention to him as the needle touched her pelvic bone, “Your father had claws too. Proof you do have some of his traits. Now, Miss. Kline, I need you to take a deep breath and...”

“Go to fuc--” she started, but he suddenly pushed down hard and she felt the needle break through the bone. She gasped loudly and squeezed her eyes shut tight. Her nails tore through the table top.

“Morph, remind me to get a sample of her nails.”

“Yes, Mr. Sinister...” he muttered as he watched her squirm. 

Lili couldn’t figure out exactly what he was doing, but it hurt and she felt the needle being twisted around and feeling a slight pinch as he moved it around. Then she felt something strange. Like something was being pulled out of her. It made her cringe, “Almost done. You really do have a tolerance for pain. Bone pain, supposedly, is the worst a person can feel. I wonder if I can replicate it. This warrants more tests,” he leaned down and said smoothly, “Luck you,” she groaned as she felt the needle sliding free of her body and he pressed some gauze to the puncture wound and taped it down, “Turn her over. She needs to lay on her back for at least ten minutes. I’ll be back then to collect more samples.”

Lili lay motionless as Milbury collected his things and headed from the room. Morph walked over and started unbuckling the straps holding her down. Immediately, her wings shot up and she tried to jump from the table. Pain shot up from the puncture wound and he jump atop of her, “Oh no you don’t, Darling,” he growled, “Hold still...” he grabbed one of her wings and tugged it hard, “Don’t make me break something.”

She went limp and let him turn her over and even strap her back down to the table, “Morph...why are you doing this?” she knew that even if she got past him, she had no clue where she was or how many people would be on the lookout for someone trying to run, “This isn’t like you...”

“How would you know what I’m like? You thought I’d be okay with dying,” he sneered.

“Morph, that wasn’t me. I swear. Magneto got in my head. He made me do it. It wasn’t me and this isn’t you. Whatever Milbury did to you or told you, it’s not real.”

He grabbed her chin and forced her to look into his cold eyes, “You will address him as Mr. Sinister. Understand?”

Lili swallowed, “Y-yes...”

“Good...” he let go of her chin and walked over to the door, leaning on the wall next to it.

“Morph, do you remember one of the first things you told me on Asteroid M?” she waited a moment, but he didn’t respond, “You told me that you were going to make me smile. Don’t you still want to make me smile?”

“Shut up,” he growled.

“You always want to make people smile. With your impressions and how sweet you are. You didn’t want Magneto to make me go through those treatments, but he was going to hurt you if I didn’t. I didn’t want him to hurt you, but then he made me hurt you. I’m so sorry, Morph,” she felt tears leaking out of her eyes.

“I said...Shut up!” he snapped. He stormed back over and slammed his hands on the edge of the table, “You’re not sorry. You wanted to do it. You told me you couldn’t trust me. That you could never forgive me. Then you left me there for dead.”

Lili turned her head a little to look at him, “Did you really enjoy seeing Mr. Sinister do that to me, Morph? Do you really want to watch what he might do to me next? Do you know what Mueller wants to do to me? Are you really okay with what Genosha is doing to our people? What our own people are doing to each other? You didn’t want it when Magneto was going to do it. I know you don’t want to do it now. Please, Morph, get me out of here and help me get the others out too.”

The reaction she got was not what she was expecting. One of his hands shot out and cracked across her face. Her cheek stung and she just stared wide eyed up at the ceiling, “I told you to shut up.”

“Morph, if you’re really okay with all of this, then you’re just a monster like they are. I hope you get what you deserve.”

“I hope you do too, Darling,” he leaned over and kissed her cheek.

The rest of the collecting that Milbury had to do was less painful. He took clippings of her fingernails, took blood, and even did a mouth swab. Lili didn’t fuss or fight any of it. She kept her eyes on Morph. Looking at him with a completely deadpan expression. She didn’t say anything till they were leaving, “Japheth is going to know I’m missing.”

Morph face twisted in slight confusion, but he didn’t say anything. Instead, Milbury smiled, “We’ve taken care of that. Japheth is going to be working late tonight and we have a shapeshifter who is more than capable of being you to clear out your things from the mutant housing. All Japheth is going to find when he gets home is a note from you saying that you’re leaving Genosha. You decided the job at the research center wasn’t for you and you’re going home to your non-mutant parents.”

Her eyes widened. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing, “Japheth won’t believe it.”

“He doesn’t have to, Miss. Kline. All that matters is everyone in the building will see you walk out with your things and he will have no idea where to find you. Look at the bright side, I’ll get to him eventually and he’ll be sitting in one of those cells with you one day,” he smiled, “Now, I have some work to do. You’ll be staying in here for the next twenty-four hours to make sure you don’t get any infections. Then you’ll be going back down with the others.”

Lili didn’t know what to do. She broke down and started sobbing, “Morph...please don’t do this...” but before she could even finish the sentence, the lights flicked off and she heard a door slam shut. Once again, all she could hear was the sound of her own crying and the feel of the table under her. Everything else was blanked out.

***

Lili wasn’t sure how long she was in the dark this time, but she knew it wasn’t a whole night or day. She squeezed her eyes shut from the blinking light as it flicked on. Her entire body felt stiff and sore. All she could do was groan as she tried to look around and clear her vision, “Who’s Japheth?”

“Can’t you figure that out on your own, Morph?” she snipped.

“I want to hear you say it.”

“Fine...He’s my boyfriend.”

“What happened to Toad? Did you kill him too?”

Lili groaned in frustration, “I didn’t kill you, Morph.”

“Not for lack of trying.”

“Please, don’t do this to Japheth. He’s a good guy. He doesn’t deserve to go home and just find his girlfriend gone. Please. He didn’t do anything to you.”

“I’m not in the position to not do this, so what would you have me do, Darling?”

“Don’t just leave a note. Wait for him and lie. Tell him that I was wrong. That as much as I care about him, I don’t love him,” it wasn’t a total lie. She did care about Japheth, very much, but she knew she didn’t love him. She hadn’t seen Toad in a year. She’d convinced herself when she first accepted a real date from Japheth that she didn’t have to love him right off the bat to be with him. Lili had tried very hard to make that happen, but she was realizing that it wasn’t. She could care about Japheth all she wanted, but that didn’t make a difference, “That he deserves someone that can be with him. Tell him I got some kind of job somewhere. Don’t tell him where. He won’t try to stop you, at least not physically.”

“If you don’t love him, then why do you care if you break up with him or just leave?”

“Because, unlike you, I’m not heartless,” she sneered.

He let out a deep breath before heading for the door, “I’ll consider it...”

“Thank you, Morph,” she said softly as he left, flicking off the lights as he went and leaving her in total darkness once again.


	33. Chapter 33

What Genosha was doing to it’s mutants was horrible. They were kept in cramped, tight cells that were overcrowded. If they were lucky, they were fed every day. If any of them talked back or tried to run, they were all punished. If a fight broke out, all of their food and water was laced with a powdered version of Tarquin’s secretions to calm them down. None of the human guards seemed to care that many of the mutants were becoming addicted to it and the more it was fed to them, the more fights broke out when they started to go through withdrawal. They didn’t care how highly addictive it was, just so long as it kept them quiet. 

Despite her desperate need to eat to keep her body going, she refused to eat or drink anything whenever there was a fight. She managed to convince a few of the others to do the same. She was moved away from Tar Baby and put with other mutants that were being experimented on by the two doctors.

Lili felt lucky compared to some of the others in her cell. There was one that couldn’t even move anymore. He just sat in the corner of the cell and once a week, Morph would come in and drag him out. The mutant couldn’t talk or do anything more than blink. They were all worried that was what they were going to end up like. Some of the others were missing limbs and a few were so strung out on Tarquin’s fluid that all they did was sit in the corners and pick at their stitches and snap at anyone who got close to them.

She wasn’t sure how long she’d been down here. Most of the others at least got to go outside and work, but she and the other lab rats were kept either in their cell or an exam room. 

She groaned as she felt a hand wrap around her arm and tug her to her feet. It was Morph. It meant one of the doctors needed her for something. She felt tired and weak. There had been massive fights among the mutants the past few days, which meant there were drugs in the food. Lili refused to eat, “Come on,” he growled as she stumbled along behind him.

“Go to hell...” she managed to get out before he grabbed her around the waist and hefted her up over his shoulder, “Put me down, Creep.”

“Shut up,” he snapped as he carried her up the stairs and through the door that led to Mueller’s exam room. He laid her out on the table.

She felt one of his hands moved to her face to brush her hair out of it and she reached up to weakly push his hand away, “Don’t touch me.”

“Yes, Morph, don’t touch her,” Mueller’s voice floated in and Lili glared at the blond woman, “When it’s time for you to touch her, I’ll let you know,” it sounded almost teasing, at least it did till Mueller came over and lifted one of Lili’s arms, “Why is she so thin?”

“I’m always thin, you moron,” she snipped back.

“I wasn’t speaking to you,” the woman popped her in the side of the face with the back of her hand, “Morph, I told you, I want all of the medical patients fed three times a day. How hard is that to ensure?”

“She won’t eat.”

“Then force her to. I plan on using her for the breeding program and I’m already uncertain if her body will hold a pregnancy. The thinner she is, the less chance a pregnancy will stick.”

“Such motherly love,” she groaned, “Just what every mother wants for her child. To become some little birthing factory.”

The woman popped her in the cheek again, “You should be thanking me. Be happy you’re the only known genetic child I have, otherwise, I would have you thrown out with the trash. Little ingrate,” she snapped, “Till she gets back to her original weight, she stays in here,” Mueller ordered to Morph.

“Yes, Dr. Mueller,” he responded.

“I’m putting her on a special diet,” Mueller sighed as she started writing something down.

“You do know that if I gain too much weight, my bones could break from the stress when I move, right?” Lili didn’t like being talked about as if she wasn’t there.

“Of course I know, but that doesn’t matter. Once you’re pregnant, we won’t be having you move anyway. It’ll be better for the first few if you just lay on your back and let things happen naturally.”

Lili grimaced, “You’re sick.”

“You’ll learn to like it, just like I did,” the woman smiled before handing the paper over to Morph, “This is what I want her eating. She is to eat a portion of everything on that list everyday.”

Morph looked the list over and then looked at the doctor, “Isn’t that a lot of food?”

“Your job isn’t to ask questions. Just do what you’re told,” she pointed to the door, “Now, go get her food. I want her on that diet immediately. Understand?”

“Yes, Dr. Mueller,” he nodded and headed from the room.

“I must say, I’m excited to see what sort of mutation is produced from you two. Surely his ability will allow the ones from your father to manifest. I’m also so looking forward to being a grandmother. I don’t think I’ve ever been one,” she smiled, “I promised, I’ll take good care of the baby for you.”

“You do realized I haven’t agreed to do it yet, right?”

“Oh that won’t matter. See, you’re a mutant citizen of Genosha. The Genoshian government doesn’t recognize it’s mutant citizens as human, therefore, no human rights laws apply. We are considered a secondary species and they consider us no better than horses. Horses can be bred, so can mutants. I am just hoping you agree to it, but if not, we will make it happen.”

Lili stared at the woman for a moment. She was finding it sickening that any mother could talk so easily about forcibly impregnating her daughter, “You’re a monster.”

“Yes. Yes I am. I’m also your mother, so behave,” she said teasingly as she went about their usual routine of blood taking and such.

Morph came back eventually with a tray of food and Mueller laid into him with new orders, “I want anything she could use as a weapon removed.”

“That would be...everything,” he commented back as he looked around the room.

Mueller rolled her eyes, “Clear out the cabinets and drawers. Then take out the extra chairs. All I want left in here when we leave is this table, a blanket, and a tray of food. In fact, I want you to remove the doors from the cabinets and the drawers too. We don’t need her surprising any of us when we walk on.”

“Why don’t you just strap her down to the table?” he snipped.

“If you question me one more time, Morph...” the blond woman growled.

“I’m sorry, Dr. Mueller. I’ll take care of the room right away,” he set about his work without another word.

Mueller finished up her work and started to head out, “I want her to eat everything on that tray. If she won’t, then force it down her throat. Make sure you lock the door when you leave. If she gets out, I’ll throw you in the incinerator and make sure you can’t come back this time.”

“I understand, Dr. Mueller,” she nodded to his response before leaving. He went back to clearing out the cabinets. He looked over his shoulder at her and saw her just laying on the table, not moving, “You need to eat.”

“I’m not going to.”

He sighed and walked over, pushing the tray towards her, “Eat.”

“Make me. I want you to force me to. You’re going to force me to do something else when Mueller and Sinister tell you to, so why don’t you get used to forcing me into things,” Lili still found it hard to believe that Morph was in on all of this, “I won’t make it easy for you though. I’m going to kick, scream, claw, and cry. So go ahead, Morph, make me eat. Get used to it.”

His face hardened as he walked over to the medical table and picked up the tray of food, “Kree...”

“You want to be a monster like one of them, then go ahead. Be one of them.”

His hands shot up to his head and he rubbed his temples, “Kree...” he growled before going back to the food.

“It’s what you want, isn’t it? You said you asked for the job personally. So why wait for your masters to tell you to do it. You want to hurt me, so do it.”

“Dammit, Kree!” he snapped the threw the tray across the room. It smashed into the wall and she flinched a little as he slammed his hands down on the edge of the table. He then threw his hands up in a fit and stormed for the door, “I’m not dealing with this right now...” he slammed the door shut hard as he ran out. Lili couldn’t help but think he looked almost scared.

Sighing, she slid off the table and walked over to jiggle the door handle. It was locked. Her legs felt tired and weak. She knew she had to eat. It was a miracle that she could even stand up right now. 

Lili leaned up against the wall, breathing hard. She realized she had to eat something. They would have to force it down her throat like Mueller said if they wanted her to gain weight, but so long as the food wasn’t drugged, she could eat a little of what they brought her in here. She groaned as she slumped down to the floor and grabbed the bread roll that had managed to stay, or bounce back onto, the tray and take a bite out of it. 

She thought about Japheth. She wondered what he was doing. Would he still be living in the mutant housing? He probably thought she was a horrible person. She hoped that Morph hadn’t just cleared out her things and left without telling him anything. She’d rather Japheth be upset about being broken up with than to come home to an empty apartment and never hear a thing. All she wanted to do was go see him and explain everything to him.

It was wrong to do, but she thought about Toad too. She wanted to see him too. Lili thought about the first time she’d considered actually having sex with him. They’d been kissing heavily in his room and he managed to convince her to lay on her back. It was uncomfortable, but she allowed it. He started rubbing his hips into hers. He’d kissed up her neck and whispered into her ear asking if she wanted to go for it. Without thinking, she’d told him yes. It was only when he actually started getting his pants open that she’d changed her mind.

Lili wished that she had gone through with it. At least that way her first time would have been with someone she liked. Instead, she was going to be left with Morph. Who, at this point, disgusted her to think about. As she thought about it, she felt a little guilty. Lili knew that it was Japheth she should have been wishing was her first. 

She just wanted to go home.

***

_Genosha was different now. It had been nearly a year since the revolution. No one knew how, but it wasn’t long before the world figured out what Genosha was doing to the mutants there. It had been amazing. Both the Professor and Magneto had shown up with an army of mutants. The Professor wasn’t interested in war, but even he knew that desperate times called for desperate measures._

_Mueller knew they were coming and had tried to rush things to happen. She told Morph to ‘get to work’ and get Lili pregnant as soon as possible. She intended on getting her pregnant and then running off with Milbury and a pregnant Lili in tow. The way Mueller put it was that her own body couldn’t have any more children due to the damage she’d done to it, so it was her daughter’s turn. They would use her till her body gave out and keep one of the female children to raise to do the same._

_Lili had always thought that when the time came for it, Morph would come to his senses and back out of it. But no. He didn’t even try to fight it. Milbury left to take care of his lab and Mueller kept watch on the door outside. She’d begged Morph to let her go, but instead, he dislocated her shoulder while forcing her down to the medical table and using the straps to hold her down._

_He was between her legs as she screamed as loud as she could. His hands working his pants open as she tried to claw at him. Lili managed to get a hit in with the heel of her foot to his chin. He snapped in anger and backhanded her. The hit made her blackout._

_When she woke up again, she was laying in a bed, covered in a white sheet. She sat up slowly, rubbing her sore cheek. Her eyes started to focus as she slid from the bed and headed towards the window. The view she saw was horrible. Buildings were on fire, some were demolished, the sky was filled with black clouds of smoke, she could hear people screaming and the sound of blasts going off. The entire island looked like it was going to hell._

_She reached up and realized that the collar was gone. Lili didn’t know where she was, but if that collar was gone, she knew she wasn’t staying here. Her wings spread out and she walked out onto the balcony, ready to jump off and get as far from Genosha as she could._

_The only thing that stopped her was the sound of the door opening behind her. She already had her feet on the railing and was ready to jump when an arm wrapped around her waist and yanked her back. She started to kick and turned around to punch whoever it was in the face. She didn’t do that though. Instead, when she turned around, she saw someone she wasn’t expecting, “Japheth...”_

_It had been a year since then and Genosha was now under the rule of Magneto. He was rebuilding it as a mutant only society. He’d invited her to stay and work under him. Despite their history and what she knew about Magneto, the Professor assured her that things were different now. Lili agreed to stay._

_Lili didn’t question the politics behind Magneto coming in and overthrowing a government and claiming the land for himself. At least she wouldn’t question it so long as Genosha really did remain a mutant society. She had little love for non-mutants due to Genosha’s former treatment, then again she knew it was the fault of Mueller and Milbury as well._

_She smiled as she felt arms wrapping around her waist as she looked out the window. She turned around to face Japheth and he leaned down to kiss her. Things were different with them now. He stated he was the one that found her in Mueller’s lab. Morph didn’t get the chance to violate her in any way. Japheth, with a group of mutants, went through freeing the enslaved mutants and he’d found Morph in the process of ‘doing this job’. He hadn’t told her, nor had she asked, what happened to Morph. No one ever found Mueller or Milbury either._

_It didn’t matter now, because she had Japheth and they were finally happy. Not just happy, but she realized she really did love him. Granted, it took such an awful experience to realize it, but she knew she did and told him everyday. The best part was that all of her friends were coming to Genosha in a month for their wedding. Japheth and her both decided they didn’t want to be with anyone else ever again._

_“I love you,” she said softly and pushed up on her toes to kiss him._

_His lips never connected. Instead, she felt something hard hit her head from behind. She groaned and slumped against him. ___

__Lili groaned again and slowly pushed up from the cold metal floor. Tears started falling down her cheeks as she realized it was just a dream._ _

__Her body scrambled across the floor as the door behind her body pushed open again, with more force this time, “The hell are you doing?!” she heard Mueller’s voice as the woman slipped inside and reached down to grab her arm, “You’re not a dog. Get off the floor,” she snapped as she shoved Lili towards the medical table, “I saw your little friends on the TV last week,” that got the avian’s attention, “I meant to tell you, but I didn’t think it really mattered. They’re all going to be dead soon.”_ _

__“What?!”_ _

__“A very powerful mutant has been freed. Sinister says we have nothing to worry about, but those idiots decided to attack him. You know Magneto, right?” she nodded a little, “Dead.”_ _

__Lili’s eyes widened a little. The Professor and Magneto were the strongest mutants she knew. It seemed impossible that someone could kill one of them. Even being blown up in space and having a giant robot dropped on him hadn’t slowed him down, “That can’t be right...”_ _

__“Looks like the others will be following suit soon enough. Shame, I would have like to get my hands on a few of them. I know Sinister has been pining after Jean Grey for some time now. Oh well, there are still a world of mutants out there. Your friends will be dead soon. Then you’ll have no one else left in the world,” she leaned down and kissed Lili’s cheek, “Except Mommy Dearest...and the baby.”_ _

__“Baby?”_ _

__“Yes, it’s what I really came down here to tell you. We’re going ahead with the plans to get you pregnant. Sinister thinks that if, by some miracle, your friends do make it out alive, they will be coming here soon enough. He thinks we should go ahead and get started. It just so happens that you’ll likely be ovulating soon based on my tests. Trust me, I know when a girl can get pregnant. I’ve made it my life knowing,” she smiled._ _

__“B-but...I...you just said yesterday,” at least she was assuming it was yesterday. Time was hard to tell anymore, “...that I need to gain weight...” she thought she could draw this out for a while with that._ _

__“We both agreed that the first one doesn’t really matter. You’ll gain weight from the pregnancy and likely lose the baby in the process of the pregnancy. We can study the body and start again while you still have the baby weight. Works out for everyone. The only reason I’m giving you any advance warning is because I thought it best if we have that whole Mother-Daughter talk. Obviously, I don’t want you scratching his eyes out.. I find it’s best if you just close your eyes and pretend you’re somewhere else. Keeps you from getting bored,” she smiled, “Though if you ask him nicely, Morph might even take the form of whatever TV-Movie star you like. That would make it fun.”_ _

__Lili started to walk backwards from the woman and around the table, “I...I won’t let him...”_ _

__“Oh, Sweetie, that’s so cute. You think you actually have a choice. Like I said before, I know how to get a woman pregnant. I’ve done it more times than anyone can count. Both to myself and others. You don’t have to want it to have a baby. Just do what I said, lay back and think of something else. Makes the time go by quicker too.”_ _

__“I won’t let him touch me,” she growled._ _

__“I told you, you don’t have a choice. You’re a lab specimen. Unless we find another reason for you, you’re job is to aid my research. Sinister already has, mostly, what he needs from you. All either of us want at this point is to see what sort of children you product. To be bluntly honest, if they seem to be trending in the way of weakness or common mutations, we may just put you out of your misery. Do us all a favor and just try to relax. It’ll make this easier.”_ _

__Lili shook her head. She refused to believe this was happening, “I won’t let it happen.”_ _

__“Right...” the woman rolled her eyes a bit, “I need to give you a few hormone shots. I was thinking about just doping you up, but I don’t want the drugs affecting the baby. I hate to have tainted results,” she reached into her lab coat pocket and pulled out a needle, “Now come here. We need that baby to last at least the first trimester,” but Lili shook her head, “Fine. So be it. You want the baby to die sooner, then fine. Because as soon as we take that baby out, you’re getting started on the next one. Morph will be in here in the morning. I’ll be coming in at first, but don’t worry, I’ll give you two some privacy soon after.”_ _

__“Go to hell.”_ _

__“If I ever die, I’m sure I will,” she smiled as she slipped the needle back into her pocket, “Remember, Lili, we don’t need you to be able to move. We can just strap you down to a table for the rest of your life. You might want to make this as easy as possible on yourself. The only reason you’ve not been thrown down with the rest of the trash this whole time is because of your DNA. If it weren’t for that, I probably would have killed you myself for that snotty little attitude you’ve given me since the day we met. Mark my words, the day your body finally gives out, I’m going to take great pleasure in putting you out myself. Of course by then, you’ll probably be begging for it.”_ _

__She watched Mueller head from the room. The moment the door closed, she ran over and started tugging on the handle. It was locked tight. She ran over to the door that lead down to where the other mutants were held, but it was locked as well. She tried screaming, but it didn’t do any good. Her nails clawed at both doors, but all she succeeded in doing was leaving pitiful marks on the metal. As useless as it was, she even tried calling out for help._ _

__Before giving up, Lili did one last thing. She wasn’t going to let this happen. She’d do anything to keep it from happening. There was no way in hell she was going to let someone use her body like that. With that in mind, Lili started rearranging the remaining furniture in the room. She used the strength in her wings and shoulders to push the medical table up against the room door._ _

__She then started shredding one of the cabinet doors from the counter area. She took the wood shards and used a drawer she yanked free to pound the shards into the keyhole on the second door. That would keep them from getting in, at least for a little bit._ _

__Then she got to work on weapons. She knew there was no way she could keep them out forever, but maybe once they got in, she could take them by surprised and get out the door. She broke more of the drawers and cabinet doors. Then she started to rip the bottom of her hospital gown into strips. She tied the largest of the shards together to get a makeshift spear of some sort. She’d tried punching Morph several times since meeting him first on Asteroid M and it never did any damage. Maybe stabbing him would._ _

__Lili didn’t care how many of her own bones she had to break, she wasn’t letting them do this. She’d make them kill her before she let Morph touch her._ _


	34. Chapter 34

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author Notes: Sorry for not updating in a few weeks. I've been doing overtime at work and my laptop died. So it's hard getting any writing done.

Lili was sitting huddled against the floor shaking and hyperventilating. It was hard to tell how much time was passing. Mueller said she’d be back in the morning, but Lili didn’t know if it was night or day when the woman had come. For all she knew, there was a camera in here somewhere and Mueller saw everything she’d been doing to prepare for when they came back. If that was the case, then Mueller could be screwing with her head and just waiting her out. Just waiting for her to grow tired or passout. Or even just waiting till she drove herself crazy with anxiety.

She sat, huddled up with her makeshift weapon. All the training Logan, Storm, and Beast had put them through tried to stay in her mind, but it couldn’t. Had she not paid close enough attention? Or was she just under too much stress? Was she the kind of person that cracked under pressure? It felt that way right now. She’d never had to deal with that before. Missions were always done in groups and on Asteroid M it had been different. She hadn’t been completely alone and certainly no one had been trying to violate her.

Her fingers gripped around the wood shard she planned on using tightly. The chipped pieces of wood cut into her skin, but she didn’t let up.

She tried to imagine what her friends would do if they were in this kind of a situation. Then she realized that none of them would get themselves into this kind of situation. All of them were strong enough that they would have got out of here long ago. Tears welled up in her eyes as she realized that no matter what she did, they would always be better than her. Stronger than her.

The doorknob wiggled a bit and her eyes went wide. No. Magneto was wrong. She wasn't the weak link. She had something they didn't. The collar could only restrict her mutant abilities, but not her physical ones. She still had claws and wings. Those were her assets. Those were things that would have to be surgically removed to keep her from using them. While Jean, Scott, and Kitty would be stuck; she could claw her way out.

Lili narrowed her eyes as the door handle jiggled a bit more, “Lili! Open this door right now!” she heard Mueller's voice call out, “So help me, I will do awful things to you!” as if what she was trying to do wasn't horrible enough, “Dammit!” the handle stopped moving. Lili knew it wasn't over. She clenched the piece of wood in her hand tighter as the weight of a body threw itself against the door. It started to give away to the force.

Slowly, she stood up and spread her wings out. Lili knew she wasn't intimidating to look at. Bare foot, wearing nothing more than a hospital gown, she looked thinner than usual, black tired rings around her eyes, her hands red and raw from clenching the wooden stick.

The door finally flew open and she did her best not to flinch at the sound of it bursting off the hinges. Mueller came in, pushing her way through the things Lili had stacked up, “You horrid little girl. Just so you know, all you've done is made me angry. What? You going to stab me with a toothpick?” the woman smirked, but Lili's eyes stayed on her, “Oh don't look so sour. I brought a friend for you to play with...George!” she shouted behind her, “As I expected, Morph chickened out. I knew that parasite Sinister put in his brain wasn't enough. He's still got some of his old personality lingering around in there. Luckily, there are plenty of others we can use...”

This information did take Lili by surprise a bit. For all of his talk lately about hurting her and wanting her to suffer, in the end, he couldn't do it. Part of her wanted to ask where Morph was, but a bigger part of her knew she still had things to worry about right now.

The man that came lumbering into the room was taller than Japheth. His skin was pitch black and it looked like it was bubbling like tar. His hair was long and blood red. She could barely make out his facial features. It all just seemed to meld together, “George, this is my daughter Lili. Don't go easy on her. She can take it,” she then turned to her daughter and smiled, “Lili, this is Gorgeous George,” had the situation not been what it was, she would have scoffed at the name, “His ability isn't as powerful as Morph's, but they are similar in some ways. That's all that really matters,” so he was a shapeshifter. That much she could gather from that.

Lili wasn't going to stand there and just listen to it anymore. She took off running at the two near the door. She was aiming for Mueller. She raised up the wooden stick and swung it at the woman's beautiful face. She watched the woman's eyes widen for a second before everything went black. At first she thought she'd passed out, but no. She was still awake. She could hear Mueller chuckle. The blackness surrounded her, but she could still see the ceiling if she looked up. The blackness latched onto her little weapon and sucked it in, “I'll leave you two alone to get to know each other. George, you have one hour,” it was Mueller's voice.

“No!” she shouted. Her wings spread out and she jumped up, flying up towards the ceiling. The sticky blackness reached out for her with tendrils, but she slashed at them with her claws. They tore through like it was paper. It didn't seem to harm it though. One caught her ankle as she came over the top. It was George controlling it. The black substance was his body. It expanded around her and was quickly moving to ensnare her completely.

All she saw of Mueller, was the woman's blond hair rounding the corner out the door. She knew Mueller would have all the keys to get out of this place. She couldn't let her get away. She shot towards the door, but the tendril around her ankle yanked her back. She gasped as it threw her back into the room. She hit the back wall and groaned a bit, “Yer a feisty one,” he chuckled as the wall of black goo retreated back to form his body again.

“Go to hell,” she growled as she stood up again. Just moving, she could tell she'd cracked at least two ribs. It didn't matter though. The only mutant ability that she had that could be restrained by the collars was her scream. It couldn't stop her claws, wings, or the fact that most of her nerve endings appeared to be numb to pain. Cracked ribs were nothing, “Outta my way,” that was the only warning she was going to give.

“Ohhh, I'm so scared,” he teased and started to laugh.

Her fists clenched as she charged him. As she got closer, his body seemed to explode. It was a cloud of dark goo again, but she didn't stop. She gained as much speed as she could in the short distance before jumping up. She shot up towards the ceiling again before narrowing her wings against her back and diving down at him. She covered her face with her arms as she drove herself into the wall of black, tar-like goo. She heard him gasp as she broke through the other side. Lili almost smirked, but she didn't have time to as she slammed head first into the hallway wall on the other side of the door.

She stood up in a daze, rubbing her head and looking at the dent she'd made. Blood streamed down from her hairline and her eyes were crossed for a moment. That had hurt more than she anticipated. Her footing stumbled a little as she started to move. It was only when she heard George shouting that she regained her senses completely. Lili knew she had to get out of here. Already there were black tendrils creeping along the walls and she saw them on the ground too.

Running would take too long. She wasn't fast enough. Leaping off the ground, she took off down the halls. At first, she tried to fixate in front of her to keep from hitting anymore walls and to take corners, but it only took one tendril grabbing her and yanking her to the ground to realize she couldn't forget that someone was after her. The goo moved quickly up her body and over her face. She thought he would try to pull her back, but instead the goo started to force it's way into her nose and mouth. He was going to suffocate her. In a panic, she clawed at the goo and cut the tendril off. The moment it was cut, it sloshed to the ground and moved to regain the rest of the body.

That meant he could only control it so long as it was attached. Lili did good to remember that as she coughed up the rest of it and jumped from the ground again. She managed to round another corner before he caught up with her again, “Stupid bitch!” he shouted and she tried to speed up, but he grabbed her again, this time around the waist. He dragged her back down to the floor and the tendrils wrapped around her shoulders from behind. They tightened and pulled. She struggled to claw at the substance, but couldn't reach. As much as it would hurt, she pulled back on the tugging till she heard two sickening pops.

Her shoulders dislocated and she managed to slip free and take off again. She remembered how Toad popped her shoulder back into place on the Blackbird. She stopped only for a moment to use the wall to force her shoulders back into place. It hurt like hell and somehow, she felt that Logan would be proud for how she was enduring it. So long as she forgot any semblance of pain, she could do this.

Every inch of her body was aching, but she was encouraged by the fact that the rooms she was passing were starting to look familiar. Mueller's lab was in the basement of the research center. This gave her hope. She knew how to get out now.

She flew past rooms and shoved her way past and nurses or patients that came out to see what the noise was. She heard screaming and shouting as not only she past by, but George did too. The tar shapeshifter's body had taken up the entire hallway behind her. A glance over her shoulder told her that much. He could expand his body to enormous proportions. It sickened her that mutants that powerful would ally themselves with people who hurt mutants.

Lili's hope grew stronger as she saw the doors that lead out to the lobby. Just a little further and she'd be out of here. She could contact the X-Men and even if Mueller and Sinister caught her and killed her after that, it wouldn't matter. There was no way the Professor would let this continue once he knew about it. It didn't matter if she died so long as she knew help was coming for the others.

Her eyes widened as Mueller stepped in front of the doors to the lobby. The woman look imposing. Even though Sinister said her only ability was longevity, she was a fearful person. Lili remembered the first time she met Mueller at the boat docks. She hadn't liked her at all. She was one of those cold-hearted, beautiful and cruel types. She manipulated young mutants into her programs by making them feel out of place in the world.

If she though just standing there was going to be enough to stop Lili, she was dead wrong. If anything, it made the avian more angry. She barreled towards the blond woman who was her mother. Covering her head with her arms again, she heard the woman shout and a loud bang. Pain shot through her body from her left shoulder. She felt the two smaller pair of wings on her back collapse and she lost a bit of speed, but she didn't stop. There was another bang and she felt the same pain on her right side. Then she felt her body connect with the doors instead of Mueller's body.

She cracked her eyes open to see that she was already near the exit to the research center. Mutants in the lobby scrambled to get out of her way as she busted through and closed her eyes against the sunlight.

Instead of stopping to see what all had happened inside, Lili kept going. She flew up into the air till she couldn't hear shouting anymore. Only then did she finally look around. The four smaller wings on her back hung limply and blood soaked through her hospital gown, starting from two holes in her shoulders, “She shot me...” she groaned as she realized what had happened.

Lili knew she wouldn't last much longer. Her head was still throbbing and blood kept clouding her eyes. Her arms refused to move more than an inch in any direction. Her four small wings refused to even twitch.

Having nowhere else in mind to go, she dove down towards the mutant housing apartments. She smashed through the balcony window of where she and Japheth had lived. She had no idea if he still lived here or not.

She crash landed onto the floor, breathing heavily as her body finally refused to move at all. She just laid there, shaking and breathing deeply as her eyes started to shut. Finally, the sounds of the world around her faded away and she couldn't feel the pain anymore. Darkness took over as she laid in the blood pooling from her own body.

Lili felt at ease.


	35. Chapter 35

“I thought you said you were going to take care of her!”

“I did everything I could. I couldn't force her to eat.”

“Look at her! She's a mess! What did they do to her?! If she's dead, I'll kill you...”

“She's not dead. She still has a pulse. I don't know what they did to her. When I refused to do what Mueller wanted, she threw me out.”

“From what everyone is saying around town, she supposedly threw a fit and trashed the research center. The police are looking for her. Mueller is stating she's an anti-mutant terrorist. How can they think that?! She's a mutant!”

Lili could hear the two voices. They were both familiar. It was Morph and Japheth. She could hear them, but any time she even tried to open her eyes, it hurt. All she could do was listen and wonder what Morph and Japheth were doing together.

“I told you, the Genoshian government knows what Mueller and Sinister are doing. They don't care. Mutants are just free labor for them and a way to make a profit. Lili doesn't matter to them. All they know is that Lili knows the truth and that they have to find her before anyone else does. That's why we moved her here when we found her. They won't think to look here for her. Have you tried to contact Xavier?”

“Yeah, but I can't get a hold of anybody. You've seen the news. That mutant, Apocalypse, they've been fighting him.”

Xavier? They were trying to get a hold of the Professor. That meant that what Mueller said was true. They had been fighting someone strong. She should be there with them. Helping them. Instead she'd been stuck here. Did this mean that Magneto was really dead too? 

She had to get up. She had to go help her friends and then help the mutants of Genosha. She had to. It didn't matter how much pain she was in. The mutant population was more important than she was, “Wh---where...” she forced herself to speak as she forced her eyes to open. Pain shot through her body as she did so, “Where...are...they...?”

“Lili?!” she heard both voices say.

She managed to get her eyes open and the first thing she saw was Japheth standing over her. His skin was ice blue in color and his face was filled with concern. She felt relief seeing him, at least she did till she saw Morph standing behind him. His eyes looked cold and dead as always. Lili felt anger swelling up inside of her, “You...” she growled lowly as she forced herself to sit up. A stabbing pain went through her chest and arms as she did, “What...are...you...doing here...”

“Lili, lay back down,” Japh said softly as he touched her shoulders and tried to gently get her to lay back, “You need to rest.”

Despite the pain, one of her arms shot up and flung Japheth's hands away, “Tell me...” fresh blood appeared through the bandages on her shoulder and she coughed a little, which caused a pain through her sternum. 

“I'll go get some clean bandages. You explain it to her...” Morph said coldly as he walked out of her line of sight. She heard a door close, but she couldn't see anything without turning her head and causing more pain.

“Lili, please, lay back down. You're hurting yourself,” Japheth said softly as he gave her another gentle push towards the bedding. This time, she complied, but she locked her eyes on him with a stern glare, “Don't look at me like that. You're the one that's been missing for six months...” he shot back, but quickly shook his head, “Sorry. I know it's not like you wanted to be there...I'm glad you're alright...mostly alright...” she knew she must look a mess.

Lili couldn't believe it had been that long. Some days it felt longer than that, but others she wondered if it had only been a week or two, “Why...is he...here?” she got out slowly. Talking at a normal speed didn't seem to be working right now.

“Morph came to me when they took you. He said that he was supposed to pretend to be you and leave me so that I wouldn't look for you...” her eyes widened a bit, “He told me what they were going to do to you. I told him I was going to go get you, but he stopped me. We both knew that neither of us were a match for Mueller, Sinister, and their goons. We needed help. We've been trying to get the Professor for months, but things have been difficult around the world. We haven't been able to contact him or any of the X-Men yet. Morph said he'd do what he could to keep Mueller's hands off of you. Obviously he didn't do a good job...” the last bit was said with a sour voice.

“I did...some of it...to myself...getting out...” she admitted.

“I figured that. When we heard that you'd broken out, we knew where you'd go. I haven't been in the mutant housing for months, but we figured you'd head there. Apparently Mueller did too. Not long after we got you out, the police showed up looking for you. They questioned me yesterday. Luckily, they don't have a telepath.”

“Is this...your place?”

“No. Morph lives here. We figured they wouldn't believe me and keep an eye on my place. We don't think they suspect that Morph has betrayed them yet. We're not going to stay long though. Once you can move, we're going to leave the island and stay somewhere safe,” he reached over and brushed some hair out of her face, “I was so worried about you.”

Leave the island? That got her speech back to normal, “Leave the island? To where? What about the others?” leaving to fight with the X-Men and then coming back was one thing, but she couldn't leave and not come back, “They need our help.”

“Lili, you can't worry about them. We need to keep you safe. Both Morph and myself think that is for the best.”

She sat up again and shook her head, despite the pain, “I'm not leaving till I know that the other mutants are going to be safe. If we don't get them out of there, then Mueller and Sinister are likely to kill them all to cover their tracks. I'm not going to let that happen.”

“Lili...” he started.

Morph came in with bandages and spoke up, “She's right. That is part of their plans. They've done it before in the past. Shortly after Lili was taken away as a baby, to escape being caught, Mueller killed and incinerated over a hundred mutants in one of her previous labs. She'll do it again and let the Genoshian government take all the blame. If we don't act soon, all of the mutants being held will be killed off.”

Japheth shook his head, but Lili didn't give him a chance to speak, “How many of the Morlocks have been taken? The ones that came here with us.”

Morph thought for a moment, “Just Tar Baby and Tarquin.”

“That leaves Bliss, Scaleface, Erg, Tommy, Piper, Leech, Sammy, and Feral,” Leech and Sammy were young, but they could be of use, “That gives us, including us three, eleven people. If we can free at least one cell down there, that will give us more than enough people.”

“To do what?” Japheth and Morph asked.

“To free the mutants of Genosha. Right now, Genosha boasts being the only mutant friendly place in the world. They are high profile. News cameras and reporters are constantly coming here. If there is even one riot, the world will know about it. We don't have to survive the fight, we just have to get it out into the streets. If the Professor and the X-Men can't help us, then we'll have to do it ourselves.”

“That's suicide, Kree,” the putty man stated, “You barely got out alive this time. You've been unconscious for a week.”

She shrugged and winced at the pain in her shoulders, “So what. I took a risk and went to the institute. I made friends. I took a risk and let Magneto experiment on me. I got stronger. I took a risk and came to Genosha. Now I have to see what that risk will result in.”

Japheth reached over and clasped one of her hands, “Are you sure about this?”

“Yes,” she said firmly.

“Alright, but you need to heal up more first. I'll keep Mueller and Sinister busy till then. They know they need to find you, but they also know they can't slack on their work. Unless I think they've figured me out, you'll be staying here. Got it?”

Lili nodded, “Fine, so long as you stay out of my way,” for some reason, it didn't matter that in the long run he'd helped her, she was still upset with him. 

“Deal, so long as you don't try to kill me again,” apparently he was still upset too. Though she really felt that what he'd done to her was worse than what she'd done to him. At least she hadn't been in control of her mind when she hurt him. She could tell by the fact that his eyes were the same now as they were the first day she saw him in the prison cells. What he'd done, he knew what he was doing. He hadn't gone to Japheth till after that first day. 

“I won't try to kill you again unless you try to subject me to medical experimentation for a second time,” it was through his convincing that she'd let Magneto do what he did to her.

He didn't respond this time. Instead, he tossed the bandages on the edge of the bed and headed out of the room once more. Japheth looked at her with worry, “He said you two had met before. He didn't say you tried to kill him.”

“It wasn't like I did it on purpose,” she snapped before laying back down. Lili felt exhausted. 

She could tell by the look on his face that he wanted a better explanation, but he also seemed to know that she wasn't going to give it up right now, “You should rest. I brought your things here,” he pointed to three boxes sitting across the room, “Your, uh, your letter...the one from Toad. It's in there too, in case you were wondering.”

Lili glanced at him before looking up at the ceiling, her cheeks flushed, “I wasn't wondering about it...” which was truthful, “Did you read it?” she wanted to be angry that he'd gone through her things, but she knew she couldn't be.

“Not all of it. Just part way...I saw the drawing, both the one of you and on the cast piece.”

“Japheth...”

But he cut her off, “It's alright. I kind of figured you still had feelings for him. You used to talk about him in your sleep sometimes. You can't help who you have feelings for.”

“But I should be able to. He's awful,” and it was true. Lili knew what kind of person Toad was. She wouldn't be surprised if he'd written that letter in the hopes of her reading it that night and crawling back to him. He manipulated people into trying to get what he wanted. She was sure that he wanted Wanda to see him with someone like her and think that deep down he was a sweet guy for dating someone so pitiful. Like it would make her like him or something, “He doesn't even like me. You do.”

“Then he's an idiot if he doesn't want to be with someone like you.”

“So why can't I feel about you the way I do him,” Lili had a feeling they were breaking up. It felt like too much too quickly. Why couldn't this talk wait or never happen? Why did he have to bring up that stupid letter? Had he spent the last six months seething about it? Like she'd lied to him or something?

He just smiled and leaned over to kiss her forehead, “Because you're an idiot like him,” somehow, it didn't feel insulting, “Things will work out how they are meant to eventually. Sometimes, being with someone you have warm feelings for can be a good thing. Starting out in hotly love can sometimes mean it wears off over time and the heat leaves. Starting out with warm feeling and letting it get hotter over time can be a good thing. Whatever you choose, you'll do what makes you happy. For now, we have something to focus on and we'll see where we are when it's over with.”

Lili felt a bit of relief. This meant they weren't breaking up. At least not right away. She didn't want to think it, but perhaps he was just waiting till she was in better health to break it off. Either way, he was right. There was no way to help who you had feelings for and doing what makes you happiest is for the best. He was also right about the fact that they had something else to focus on. They needed to gather up the other Morlocks before Mueller and Sinister got to them.

“I'll take care of finding the others. I'll take them somewhere safe till we're ready.”

“Okay, but be careful. Mueller knows they were with us. If she or Sinister finds out, then they might go ahead with the extermination. There are a lot of kids down there...” which sickened her. She sometimes wondered how many of those mutant children were born down there. 

“I will,” he leaned over and kissed her forehead again, “I'll come check on you tomorrow. I can't risk coming here too often.”

“I understand.”

“I'm going to leave Eany here with you. He'll keep you safe,” though she wondered from what. Part of her knew that Japheth didn't completely trust Morph. She didn't either, “He's probably rooting through the trash right now, but I'll send him in here. Alright?”

She nodded in response.

“And I mean it, you need to rest. I don't know what you did, but you tore yourself up.”

“I head-butted a wall...and a door...and a window...and a tar man,” she admitted with a small grin.

“That would explain it,” he smiled before getting up and heading for the door, “Remember, rest.”

It wasn't long after he slipped out that she heard a familiar cooing sound. She never thought she'd be happy to see a foot and a half long slug that weighed almost as much as a toddler in her life, but she was. The three eyed creature crawled it's way up onto the bed and flopped down next to her with a fleshy flop, “You have no idea how much I missed you, Eany,” the slug cuddled up to her. As disgusting as it was, the flesh and metal creature put her at ease. Right now, Eany was as good as a teddy bear.

She wrapped an arm around the thing and hugged it close. Despite what these things ate, they didn't smell unpleasant. Mostly because Japheth forced them into a bath once a week. They smelled like dish soap most of the time. 

Eany cuddled and cooed against her till she fell asleep. She was determined to be up and moving within the next day or two, but for now, she was content to just go back to sleep.


	36. Chapter 36

It had been three days and Lili was tired of sitting in the little bedroom Morph and Japheth had confined her too. She'd been locked away for six months, apparently, and wasn't having it anymore. Eany grunted at her as she headed for the door, “I'm fine. Japheth said that this place isn't near the research center. I'm not leaving the house. I'd just like to get my own food. I can walk,” she muttered and rolled her eyes as she stepped over the slug and opened the door.

She poked her head out and looked around before heading out. Her body was still sore, but it was down to a tolerable pain. For most people, what she could tolerate was still extremely painful. She didn't question how they'd gotten the bullets from her shoulders and she assumed Morph was stealing the medical supplies from Sinister. She could move all her body parts and that was all that mattered.

Lili sniffed the air a bit. She could smell food cooking. She made her way around the small house before finding the kitchen. She nearly laughed at the sight. If it wasn't for the sore spots on her ribs, she probably would have laughed, “Oh my...” she finally giggled.

Standing in front of her was Morph. Dressed in a full suit of armor. In one hand, he held a spatula and in the other was a frying pan with eggs in it. He was brandishing the spatula as if it were a sword, “Down vial eggs of doom! I shall conquer thy!” he stated in a proud sounding voice, “Your hens shall never cluck again in the land of Morph the Almighty! Foul feathered beasts of the air!”

Lili couldn't hold back anymore. She laughed loudly, “Hey! I'm offended!” she said with a smirk, holding her sides as pain shot through them, “I happen to be a feathered beast.”

The spatula fell from his hand and he quickly set the frying pan back on the stove top. The suit of armor started to melt away and back was his usual uniform, “You decided to come out. You should be resting,” his voice took on a serious tone as he picked the spatula up and went to clean it, “I'll bring you some food when it's ready.”

“I really don't feel like being trapped in a room. I can fend for myself. I think I proved that,” she snipped. Apparently he only felt comfortable being himself when she wasn't around, “You know, you didn't have to stop just because I came in. I knew...I knew you weren't a bad person.”

“You have no idea who I am, Kree...” he sighed, “Just so you know, I did want you to suffer. That wasn't an act. You betrayed me...” he said lowly before going back to the stove.

“Morph, that wasn't me...” she started, but he banged the frying pan down loudly.

“The best thing you can do for yourself is to not talk about it. I've been trying my best the past few days to not think about you. So long as you keep your mouth shut, we'll get along. I think it's best if we just avoid each other. If I'm in here, you go somewhere else and I'll do the same for you. Got it?” he snapped.

Lili stiffened and her brow furrowed, “Yeah, I get it. I don't want your stupid eggs anyway,” she turned to leave the room, but stopped suddenly and grabbed one of the uncooked eggs from the carton on the table and threw it at his back. He went rigid as it hit and cracked down his back, “Just so you know, you're not the only one that has something to be upset about. Jerk.”

She saw his hand tighten on the spatula before he turned around and pointed it at her, “So you want to act like a child, huh?” he snapped before grabbing the butter he'd been using to keep the eggs from sticking and throwing it at her, “I dealt with enough of your whiny, self-important attitude on the asteroid. I don't have to put up with it here.”

She ducked and it hit the wall behind her, “Your aim sucks!” she growled before picking up another egg and throwing it at him, “My self-important attitude?! And what about you?! Before you chickened out, you were hell bent on getting in my pants. You pathetic, nose-less, creep! If anyone is acting like a child, it's you!” he dodged the egg and grabbed a bag of flour from the cabinet, “If you throw that at me, so help me god...” she started, but he didn't wait to finish before tearing the bag open and flinging it across the room at her, “You jerk!”

The flour covered half the room and herself. She shook her wings and flour flew everywhere, covering him as well. For the first time since the asteroid, he laughed, “You look ridiculous.”

“Me? You're the one with egg on your back and can't aim a stick of butter,” she snorted before lobbing another egg at him. It hit his chest this time and she flapped her wings to dust up more of the flour at him, “Still got a problem with feathered beasts?” she perked an eyebrow at him.

“Let's just say I have a sour taste in my mouth about them since one kissed me once and destabilized my body.”

“Morph, please, that wasn't me. Magneto got into my head. He made me set up fights between his people and my friends. He was going to do that to everyone. Eventually, he would have thrown you in that chamber too. He wanted us under his control. I don't know why he made me go after you. Maybe he thought that your mind couldn't be controlled, so he tried to have me kill you. You have no idea how I felt when I realized what I'd done...” she walked over, leaving foot prints in the flour, and sat at the table.

Before he could speak, she lobbed one more egg at him and hit him square between the eyes, “Can we stop with the eggs?”

“Yeah, but only because I'm out,” she showed him the empty carton before tossing it towards the trash.

“Kree, I know what Magneto did to you. I just figured that you really did want me dead. As much as I meant it when I said I wanted you to suffer, you meant it when you said you didn't trust me,” he walked over and sat down across from her, grabbing a towel as he went and wiping his face off.

Lili looked down at the table and traced a line in the flour with the tip of one of her claws. It was true. She felt awful over what she'd done, but she hadn't trusted him as much as she thought she did. He'd been staying on the asteroid longer than her and convinced her into letting Magneto mess with her. There was no way he could have been that close to Magneto without knowing something about his plans, “Morph, you're such a good person at heart. Why do you go along with people like Magneto and Sinister? Why have you stayed with Sinister after knowing what he does?”

His eyes darkened and he stared down at the table, “I don't want to talk about it. You should go somewhere else. I'll let you know when breakfast is done...” he got up and started to clean up the counters, “If you go in the living room, stay away from the windows. I don't want to risk anyone seeing you.”

“Morph...”

“I mean it, Kree. I told you that I wanted you to suffer. Don't make me angry.”

Lili supposed that was that. She couldn't force him to talk and she had a feeling he was telling the truth about wanting her to suffer. There was something Mueller had said about a parasite. Had Sinister put something in him to make him this way? If he had, maybe when the X-Men showed up, one of them could get it out. She decided it was best not to talk about it.

Sighing, she left him alone and headed out towards the living room. She flopped down on his couch, not caring if she left a flour imprint of herself on it. Eany came sliding in and climbed up on the couch with her, leaving a trail of slime across the whole floor and on the couch as he slid into her lap. The creature purred and cooed up at her, “It's all going to be over with soon, Eany. I promise. We're either going to make things right or die trying,” he gave her a pitiful grunt, “Don't worry. You and Meany are going to be just fine. Japheth would never let anything happen to you two. You mean more to him than anything,” partly because he needed them to survive. The creature cooed and proceeded to fall asleep in her lap.

She spent most of the day sitting on the couch or walking in circles around it to stretch her legs. She knew she was in no condition to fight again soon, but she also knew she had no choice. The more Morph and Japheth saw her move, the less they would fight against her pushing their plans through quickly. They had no way of telling how extensive the damage to her body was at this point. Neither of them were doctors after all and they had no way of knowing whether her body was just tolerating the pain or if she really was getting better.

Japheth came over later that night as he usually did. He saw the flour mess still lingering around and gave her a curious look, “Everything alright?”

“Yeah, we just got into a fight and he refuses to come in here by himself, because he's a chicken, so the flour in here hasn't been cleaned up yet,” she snipped as Morph followed the blue mutant in.

“And she's too much of a coward to face me by coming to get cleaning supplies and cleaning it up herself. Because she expects people to do things for her, like a child,” he snapped back.

Japheth looked between the two of them before picking Eany off the floor, “Alright...well...I found the others. They are staying in groups in separate locations till we're ready to group together,” apparently he thought it best to just move the conversation on. He also positioned himself next to Lili so that they would both have to go past him to get to each other.

“As soon as we all group together, they are going to find out. We'll have to move that day,” Morph stated and Lili nodded in agreement, “Do they all know what they are getting into?”

“Yes. Even Sammy. Tommy and Sammy are going to take the sewers that run under the facility. Tommy can slip through the grates and Sammy can lead whoever we get out through that way to safety. No one can navigate water better than him. He can lead them right out to the beach. There is a boat of mutants coming in two nights from now. Sammy and Piper can convince the animals in the water to help get our groups out to it. We'll worry about convincing the captain once they're there.”

“What about the others?” Morph asked. He didn't know these people and didn't know their abilities.

Lili spoke up at this point, “I know the research center better than I do the hospital. Plus, Mueller probably wants me more than Sinister does. I'll be the bait. I'll call her out. She knows she can't fight even me on her own without a gun or knock out drugs, so she'll bring her goons with her. This will give Tommy and Sammy time to help the ones below. Once I have Mueller out, Feral and Scaleface will help me fight my way in. We'll get any of the pregnant girls out. Tommy is going to stay once she helps Sammy get as many as they can out below. The rest will have to come up through the research center with us. Once Feral and Scaleface come out, you know Mueller is going to call in Sinister.”

Japheth started up again, “Erg and I will be at the hospital with him. We're going to keep a close eye on him. I'm going to let Eany and Meany out to follow him, so as soon as he heads down towards his lab, we'll know. We're going to hold him off as long as we can and keep him away from any of the hospital patients,” many of them were mutant children, “Bliss and Leech are going to be in the hospital lobby. I'll signal them when it starts. Leech is going to be a big help for us. I don't know how powerful Sinister is, but hopefully Leech will have an affect on him. If not, surely Bliss's poison will.”

Lili looked over at Morph, “Morph, we're going to count on you to get as much of the fights publicized as you can. Call every news station on the island. Wake everyone up. Get them to the research center. Knowing Mueller, she won't be able to keep her mouth shut. The Genoshian government might be okay with this, but I doubt most of their citizens know. All it'll take is one person to speak up who isn't a mutant. It doesn't matter who doesn't believe him. Just the thought that Genosha might not be as great as it claims to be will get reporters and investigators from around the world to come sniffing.”

“So you don't want me to fight?” he asked curiously.

“Morph, the fight itself doesn't matter. What matters the most is that people see it. If it happens in silence, then no one is ever going to stop them. Your job is the most important. Even if we all die, so long as that one person you woke up and alerted even posts on Facebook, then we win,” she got up and started to walk over to him. Japheth almost moved to stop her, but she slipped by him and wrapped her arms around Morph, hugging him close, “Please tell me you understand how important your job is.”

The putty man pulled back a little as she hugged him, as if her touch burned him, but he pat her on the shoulder and nodded, “I understand.”

She smiled and pulled back to look up at him. His eyes were as cold and dead as ever, but she knew he understood, “Good. Now we just need to figure out the 'when' to do this. Japheth, when is that boat arriving?” she pulled away from the putty mutant and sat back down on the couch.

“Two nights from now. The schedules say it should be docking at eight.”

“We should all meet up here at four then. That way the boat is still far enough away that no one can force them to port here once our group gets on board,” Morph said and the other two nodded in agreement, “We'll take two hours to prep everybody and then head out at six.”

“It'll still be light out when I get Mueller out then. That'll be good. It'll make Morph's job a little easier if people aren't fully asleep yet,” she added in and the men agreed.

Morph took his leave and left the two of them alone. They hadn't talked much since she escaped. Most of their time together was just awkward silences, like right now. He settled down on the couch next to her and reached over to hold one of her hands, “Lili, if we don't make it, I want you to know that I love you,” and instead of an awkward silence, he had to make everything awkward.

Lili wasn't sure how she was supposed to respond. She cared about Japheth and didn't want to see him die, but she didn't love him, “Japheth...I...I care about you...”

“I know. I didn't expect you to say it back, so don't worry. I just wanted you to know. I also think that if we do survive, that we just go back to being friends. Like we were before coming to Genosha,” here it was. The break up that she knew had to be coming, “Just like you can't bring yourself to be with Toad because he doesn't love you, I don't think I can be with someone that doesn't love me. I thought I could...”

“I know,” she responded softly, “It was a good try though, wasn't it?”

“Until you were kidnapped, yeah, it was. It could have been an even better try if you slept with me,” he teased, “We still have two night for you to fix that.”

She giggled softly, “Not a chance.”

“Eh, I had to try,” he smiled and pulled her to lean against his chest. She could hear a low growling from his abdomen.

“Give it up, Meany, we're not together anymore. You win,” she said into his stomach and heard a soft cooing from inside. Apparently the female slug was happy to hear this, “But you better not chase off every girl that comes near him. He's a good guy and deserves a good woman that loves him. You hear me?” all she got in response was a snapping noise, “Same to you.”

“You want to know what she said?” he asked.

“Not really. I'm sure I can figure it out,” the few times she'd asked for a translation for Meany ended up with a lot of swear words. Of course that was nothing compared to the stuff Eany said. Something about Japanese animations and tentacles, “I'm gonna go get some rest.”

“Alright. I'll see you in two nights...” which meant he didn't plan on coming to see her tomorrow like he had the past three other nights. They really were splitting up.

For some reason, it didn't hurt as much as when she'd finally told Toad off. It felt easy this time. They simply weren't meant to be together. She'd heard about mutual breakups before, but didn't think they really existed. Especially after one party admitted love.

Even still, she felt a coldness. Lili had never been alone before in her life. Growing up, her parents were always there. When she went to the institute, she supplemented the time that her friends couldn't be there with her by seeing Toad. Not long after splitting up with Toad for good, she was with Japheth. The most alone time she had was when Mueller wasn't prodding her with needles. Once this was over with, if she was alive, she'd have no one.

Lili bit her lip as she walked back to her room and crawled into the bed to rest.


	37. Chapter 37

Lili took a deep breath as she looked at herself in the mirror. Her face was still bruised up and she still looked like hell overall. As confident as she wanted to be about all of this, she wasn't. She was prepared for failure and death. All this hinged on the fact that the people of Genosha would make enough noise about this that help would come. That they would report the 'mutant terrors' and help would come and see what was really going on. But what if they didn't? What if the human population of Genosha was perfectly okay with mutants being used they way they were? What if the only help that came was for Mueller? What if the only people that responded were the Genoshian government? Or what if Morph decided to have a change of heart?

She shook her head and tried to clear those thoughts away. She had to believe that what they were doing was for the best. All they could do was try and hope it worked. She prayed that if there was a God that he would help them tonight.

It had been a few years since she suited up like she had at the institute, but it kind of felt good to do it. She pulled her long white hair back and wrapped it in a tight bun. Next was the full body suit. It took a little work to get it on, but she eventually remembered how it went. It hadn't occurred to her before now, but trying to get a skin tight suit on was difficult once even a little weight had been gained or body shape had changed. Lili was surprised to realize that it didn't fit quite as well as it had when she was sixteen. While the appearance she had on Asteroid M might not be what she was going to be one day, apparently it wasn't completely off. She ran her hands down her sides to check. 

Sure enough, her chest was at least half a cup size larger than she remembered them being and her hips were just barely half an inch broader. Her stomach even had a slight heft to it that she couldn't remember it having before. Lili realized how little she knew about herself. She'd spent most of her life growing up never looking in mirrors. There was no point in mirrors to her. Apparently that meant not realizing fully when her body was undergoing some kind of changes. She knew from science classes and studies in school that while the human body did change through life, there was a certain point when things didn't drastically change quickly. Though for mutants that was different. She knew that some mutants changed drastically from year to year till the day they died. Sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse.

Though it made no sense that her body would shape the way it had considering she had been locked up for half a year and eaten very little. Mutations were funny that way. It was like her body was refusing to die and evolving faster to continue her life.

She noticed her nails too. They were longer and sharper. She used to file them constantly, so maybe they had always been like this but she had filed them off too much for her to notice. Unlike most human nails, they were thick and the color of bone. In most humans, the back portion of the nail was almost skin colored while the tip was whiter. Her's were white from cuticle to tip. She reached over and tapped the mirror lightly and gasped a little as her nail was able to cause the tiniest spider crack in the glass. She wasn't sure if she could have done that before, but it was interesting to know now. Part of her had the tiniest urge to say that being a mutant was 'cool'. 

"Well, I guess this is what I have to work with for now then," she settled for saying that instead. She could deal with the puberty like changes to her body later. Right now, she had more important things to worry about. Like the fact that she could be dead by this time tomorrow. 

With a soft sigh, she walked over to the nightstand and picked up the letter Toad had written her. She reread it and smiled a little. Lili didn’t want to admit that she still had feelings for the little creep, but she did. She knew there was no reason to deny that anymore. They would never be together, but she knew she cared for him. He’d never have the same feelings for her, she was sure of it. Even if she did survive and met him again, they would never make it work. It would always end with him doing something and her fighting him because of it.

That didn’t stop how she felt though. 

Toad and her were connected through her mother. Mueller was part of the reason he was the way he was. If it wasn’t for Mueller, then his mother might have kept him. He might not have had such unpleasant mutations. He might have had a better chance in life. As for herself, she never found out if Mueller did any experiments on her while she was in the womb. All she knew was that she was an attempt at creating a stronger mutant. She was the failed experiment.

Folding the letter up, she shoved it down the front of her suit and headed for the bedroom door. Lili had no intentions on coming back and she did her best to forget that everything she owned was sitting in three little boxes at the foot of the bed. It wasn’t like she would need it if she was dead. If the fight got as bad as Morph and Japheth were expecting it to, then there was a chance that this place was going to be right in the path of destruction anyway.

Morph, Japheth, and the remaining Morlocks were rounded up and waiting for her, “Ready to go?” Japheth asked.

“Ready as I’ll ever be. You guys ready?” she asked the Morlocks.

Many of them had never fought before and two of them were children. If she could help it, they would be out of the way before anything serious got under way. Sammy and Leech were mutants, but they were part of the groups of children she hoped to get out of the way. 

The two children had been through hard times in their lives and she hoped that if everything did go as planned that they would both have better lives. Even with the difficulties they’d endured, they both looked nervous. The Morlocks were survivors, but not exactly fighters. She doubted many of them had training like she had or even had the experience that Japheth or Morph did.

They all knew the plan. There was no more need to discuss it. Just go do it. With that in mind, they started out. The research center wasn’t far from here, so that group was going to hang back a bit to give the others time to get to the hospital. 

They had no weapons other than their mutations and that would have to do. Even worse, Lili didn’t even have access to all of her mutations. The collar was still tight around her neck and she had no way of getting it off. Morph said that Sinister and Mueller never told him where the controls for them were. Even if they had, she was sure that one of them would notice if a collar went deactive. 

That was what concerned her the most. They knew she had escaped. Whether she survived or not, she figured they’d both be cautious enough to set her collar off just in case. Yet they hadn’t. It made her question Morph’s loyalty once again and it made her wonder if they were trackable. If so, they already knew where she was and were just biding their time.

Lili knew there was no time for second guessing herself or their plans. If something happened, then they would just keep going without her and without anyone who was injured in the process. Even if Morph had been playing a part these past few days, that wasn’t going to stop Japheth. He’d keep going. So would the others. They were going to succeed or die. Maybe even both.

It was already dark outside by the time they all parted. Scaleface, Feral, and herself headed down the alleyway to reach the center. The plan was simple enough. Get Mueller and her mutant goons attentions and get them outside. Hold them off till Sammy set off the flare at the beach that they were out. 

“I don’t know how many mutants she has on her side or how many of them are going to be fighting us willingly. If they have a collar on like mine, try to just knock them out. If not...go for the kill,” she hated to give a kill order, but she knew they would be trying to kill them. It wasn’t like they were going to be trying to take them alive for questioning. If she could, she would take Mueller alive, but she wasn’t going for that. As far as she was concerned, the woman had lived long enough and had this coming, “I only know of one of them. His name is George. He’s made out of some kind of tar stuff.”

“I’ll rip him to shreds,” Scaleface growled. As they got nearer, she crouched low to the ground. Lili had seen the girl’s mutation once, but it was only her face that turned. She knew that she could turn her whole body. She and Feral watched as her spine started to bulge. The shirt covering her torso started to rip as her arms widened and bulked up. Her skin looked like it was cracking and turning a sickly green. The girl growled a little louder as her fingernails hardened and sharpened. Soon, her nails were longer than Lili’s, not even really nails anymore, claws. Big claws.

Scaleface’s entire body had changed. Instead of a disheveled teenage girl, there was an enormous monster. She looked almost like a Komodo Dragon. The only difference was the fact that she was in complete control of lizard like form. And the fact that she could breath fire. Her scales were hard as steel and as far as Scaleface knew, nothing had been able to pierce them as of yet in her life. 

The dragon creature growled before leaping onto the wall of a nearby building. She let out a roar before digging her claws into the brick and clawing her way around. 

Feral was next. The some kind of cross between Beast, Wolverine, and Nightcrawler. Thick brown fur covered her body that stuck out like crazy. She removed her jacket to show off her long, slender, and toned arms. She brought her hands together and cracked her knuckles, taking care to get everyone up to her thick, claws. Like Lili, she had natural claws.

The beast like girl stretched her hands down to her toes, her long fur covered legs twitching a little as she wiggled like a cat. Lili wasn’t sure what kind of animal the girl took after, but she always assumed some kind of cat. The long tail just added to that as it flicked around behind her. 

Much like Scaleface, she other mutant beast girl growled before leaping up onto a ledge. She gave Lili a small nod before running off along it. Lili was counting on the two of them. She knew there was no way she could do this by herself. She wasn’t even sure they had a chance as it was, but even less so if she had to do it on her own. 

With a deep breath, she started off again. She couldn’t see the other two mutants anymore, but she knew they were here somewhere. The path to the research center was familiar. It was the one she’d taken everyday when she worked there. The mutant housing apartments weren’t far away. She liked taking the back alleyways because they were generally quieter and there were less tourists. It made her sick to her stomach to think of how much money Genosha was making off it’s mutant population. 

So much boasting about what a safe place it was for mutants. Safe, but they were exploited. And the safe was only till they decided they needed you for something else. Then Mueller and Sinister got their claws dug in.

The center was right in front of her now. All she had to do was cross the street. The lobby lights were still on and she could see people moving about inside, but she knew that most had gone home for the night. Most of the jobs in there were the business hour types. 

Her fingers reached up to touch the collar. Did her mother know she was coming? Had the woman been tracking her every movement? Was their a microphone in collar? Did Mueller know everything? If so, then she was walking right into a trap. That was just a chance she was going to have to take.

With a deep breath, she walked across the street as if she was about to go to work. Like there was nothing wrong at all. She only stopped when she saw the familiar blond woman. Lili still had trouble believing that Mueller was her mother. They shared no physical features and she refused to believe that had an ounce of that cruelty inside of her. When shown the DNA test results, shown just to torment her, she remembered shouting about how they were fake papers.

In her heart, she knew that monster was her mother. At least biologically. The Kline’s were the ones that raised her. They may not have been the best parents in the end, but they had never hurt her and they never mistreated her. If it wasn’t for them, she would have been killed as an infant for not being what Mueller wanted.

Lili bent down and picked up a rock from the street. She took a deep breath as she got closer. She saw someone inside point out at her and she lobbed the rock as hard as she could at the repaired glass door. It cracked and she picked up and threw another rock and another and another. It didn’t take much to shatter it. They had repaired it from where she went through it, but not with the same standard of glass.

She heard someone scream inside, but it wasn’t Mueller. Probably the receptionist. Lili didn’t want to get people involved that weren’t, but it was hard to tell who all knew what was going on and who was choosing to ignore what was going on. How had Magneto put it one time? Necessary casualties.

She watched as her mother walked towards the now shattered door. She stopped herself at the curb and waited as the blond woman came out with a smile on her face, “How sweet of you to come home. I was getting so worried about you. Starting to consider setting that collar off just for safety.”

“Why didn’t you do it earlier?”

“No telling where you were at. Government didn’t want to risk you hiding out somewhere important and us blowing up. You’re lucky, cause they were about to give us the okay to do it. Not that you’d be much use to me blown to pieces. But, luckily, you’re here now. So be a good girl and get inside.”

Lili clenched her fists and dug her toes into the ground, reading herself to charge the woman. Mueller seemed to realize that and took a step back. For all the fear that she induced in mutants, Amanda Mueller wasn’t strong on her own. Her mutation, as far as Lili knew and had seen, was limited simply to having a long and ageless life. She might know how to fight, but she lacked any real power. She wasn’t like Sinister, who apparently figured out how to absorb the powers of other mutants through medical procedures. She was just a woman that relied on creating fear, “I’m not scared of you,” she growled. 

Lili was sure her mother realized what was going to happen. That collar only prevented her from screaming, it didn’t make her claws any shorter or her wings stop working. The moment the thin, white haired mutant launched herself from the ground, Mueller turned and ran back for the shattered glass doors.

As soon as she cross the curb on the other side of the road, a large cloud of black goo started to descend on her. It was George. Lili didn’t give him a second though. The moment he got close to her, Scaleface leapt out from the shadows and fire shot out of her lizard mouth. The black tar mutant screamed and howled in pain as he retreated and reformed. The dragon girl growled and snapped her large jaws before bounding after him. 

Lili continued her charge. She was close enough now to reach out and grabbed the woman’s blond hair, but she didn’t. Instead, her ears started to ring the way they did when she screamed, but it wasn’t her this time. She felt herself get knocked back towards the street. Standing not far into the research center was a tall, slender man with pink hair.

He had a cocky grin on his face as Mueller ran past him. He stretched his arms up above his head and stepped through the broken glass. Lili let him. Just sitting on the ground as he moved closer, “The name’s Ruckus. You’re just as ugly as I thought you’d be. Pathetic little bitch, you think you can stop all this?” he motioned his arms around in a grand gesture.

“No, but she can stop you…” Lili smiled as she heard a low, rumbling growl from the alleyway by the building. Feral came bounding out, letting out howls of rage and anger. The furry, tailed mutant female tackled the pink haired man to the ground, “He’s got some kind of vocal power like mine. Keep him quiet,” she ordered to Feral, though the only response she received was a growl and the sound of Ruckus trying to scramble away as the beast girl tore into his body with all her fury.

“I thought monsters liked a fight, Mueller!” she shouted as she climbed back to her feet and charged through the broken door. The receptionist sat cowering on the floor and Lili glanced at her, “If you’re with these monsters, I suggest you run now.”

“N-no...I’m just part time. I just answer the phones…” she whimpered.

“Then get out before you get hurt.”

The woman nodded quickly and scrambled out the door quickly, rushing past the body of Ruckus that was laying unconscious. Lili hadn’t said not to kill anyone, but she had hoped that Feral would just knock people out before killing them. The only one she felt was completely deserving of death right now was Mueller. That was where her focus needed to be. On her mother. On the woman who had caused so much pain for so many years.

The winged mutant darted down the familiar hallway. She could see the damage on the walls from her escape. Claw marks and smashed windows everywhere. Lili hadn’t realized at the time just how hard she’d fought to get out. 

Her booted feet stomped hard on the ground as she dashed down the tiled hallway. Her eyes went wide as she turned a corner and saw her mother standing there with a gun. She was reminded of her escape again. Seeing the blond woman at the end of the hall with a gun pointed at her, but this time the gun wasn’t pointed at her. Instead, the cruel woman had one arm firmly wrapped around the neck of a mutant girl just a little younger than Lili. The gun wasn’t on the other girl’s head though. It was on her bulging stomach. 

The other girl was a mutant like herself. One with physical mutations that would be hard to hide. Those were the types that Mueller seemed to take advantage of. They were the easy ones. This one was worse off than Lili was. She was more deformed. Lili knew that was how she could have ended up or even could still. Instead of lips, the girl had a beak. Her arms were thin and scrawny like Lili’s, but instead of soft skin, she had dry, cracked, and reddish. There were tiny feathers stick out everywhere. Her bare legs were just like her own, for which Lili always wore pants and long skirts to hide them, but her knees were bent wrong and there were more tiny feathers. It was like a chicken turned human.

What gave Lili pause was the bulge the gun was pointing at. The girl was pregnant, “There are three children in there,” Mueller stated with a smile, “Take one more step and I kill them and her. Don’t think I won’t. I’ve killed far more in one go,” to which Lili didn’t doubt one bit, “She’ll be laying those three eggs soon. You wouldn’t want to hurt them, now would you?” it was disgusting that Mueller knew how weak she was that she needed to hide behind other people.

“Coward,” she snapped.

“Yes, but I survive. Bravery is for idiots, Lili. Being brave is what gets people killed. You want to survive, you learn how to throw a few people in the way. You could learn a little from that. No one else matters but yourself, Lili. You could charge me, let me kill her, probably kill me, and then end up dead yourself because no one is coming to rescue any of you...or you can turn yourself around, go back to wherever you were, and I’ll deactivate the collar. You never come back and you never cause me another problem. Or, last option, you go in that room over there and wait for George to finish off that dragon bitch and take your place as my daughter and we’ll start a whole new line of research,” the woman smile softly, almost sweetly. 

“Or the fourth option. I let you kill her, I kill you, and I tear apart every building in my way till I get someone off this island to come investigate.”

The smile faded from the blond woman’s face, “You wouldn’t let me kill her. You’re here to save them.”

“I’m here to kill you. I’m here to make some noise so the rest of the world comes looking. I’m here to tear this building down. It’s like you said, sometimes you have to throw a few people in the way. There is such a thing as necessary casualties.”

“You’re bluffing.”

She dug the toes of her boots into the ground and she leaned over a little bit, “Let’s find out.”

The pregnant girl’s eyes were wide with fear. Tears were pouring down her face and over her beak, “Please. Please don’t kill me,” she whimpered. Lili was sure there were times when the girl wanted to die because of her mutation, but the outing of mutants had change the minds of a lot of them.

“Don’t tell me that. Tell her. The moment she moves, I’m putting a bullet through your gut,” Mueller sneered and cocked the gun.

The beady eyes of the mutant girl were on her as she begged louder, “Please! Don’t let her shoot me! Please just do what she says! I don’t wanna die! I don’t wanna lose my babies!” it was likely that those three eggs inside of her were all she ever had in her life.

Lili wanted to back off. She didn’t want anyone to get hurt like this. She wasn’t heartless and she wasn’t a monster. She didn’t want to be the reason someone died if she could prevent it, at least not someone who didn’t deserve it. Lili knew that just a few changes to her genetics and that girl standing there could have been her. They both had avian mutations, it was just now thrown in her face just how much better hers was than it could have been, “Well, Lili, what are you going to do?” currently, she was wondering if she could close the gap between them before that gun could go off. Not likely, “Better chose fast. My finger might slip.”

Lili knew she’d hate herself for it, but she also knew she didn’t have a choice. If she just left, then she’d never be able to forgive herself. Mueller had to be stopped. Otherwise, there was a good chance that those babies were going to be killed anyway. She had to justify it to herself. Either Mueller killed them now or later. At least now meant that Mueller couldn’t hurt anymore of them later, “I’m sorry,” she said softly.

The other girl sobbed loudly as Lili pushed off from the group and charged towards the two of them. She heard the gun go off and the bird-girl scream loudly. There was blood too. It spilled on the floor as Lili took both of them to the ground. Without a thought, she pushed the bird-girl aside and grabbed for Mueller. She was expecting a fight, but it never came.

The bird-girl sat up slowly and shivering. She immediately put her bony fingers over her stomach. Checked every spot on it. There was blood on her hospital gown, but only spatter. None of it was her own.

Lili sat up as well, straddling Mueller’s body. The woman was laying out below her. A puddle of blood was forming behind her head, soaking her bright blond hair. Right between her now cold, dead, glassy blue eyes was a hole. Blood leaked from it in small streams. She didn’t understand. All she could do was look over at the bird-girl, “What happened?”

“I...I don’t know...Y-you were...you were going to let her kill me…” 

“I’m sorry. You don’t know what kind of person she is...was…” Lili stood up slowly, “You should get out of here. Go home and call everyone you know. Let them know what happened.”

“But I don’t know what happened…”

Lili took a deep breath, “Tell them that Lili Kline, from the Xavier Institute shot and killed Dr. Amanda Mueller.”

“But...that’s not what happened.”

“Just go!” she snapped. She wasn’t sure what kind of people this girl actually knew, but it was a start in case Morph didn’t follow through. For all she knew, the only other person this girl knew was the father of those eggs, “And stay inside when you get there!”

She waited for the girl to leave before looking around more. Mueller had been shot right between the eyes. Lili hadn’t noticed a bullet pass by her own head and she hadn’t seen any other people around. She found Mueller’s gun sitting across the hallway. There was no way it could have made it over there on it’s own. So what happened? Lili heard the gun go off. Even if Mueller had shot herself, there was no way she could have done it right between her eyes with that gun.

The avian picked the gun up and looked it over. The barrel was still warm. This was definitely the gun Mueller had been holding, the one she’d been shot with, and the one that Mueller had now been shot with, “The hell happened…”

It felt lackluster. She’d been through so much and they had laid out a whole plan. Yet Mueller was just laying there. It hadn’t even taken an hour. Was this really it? Was it really this easy? Lili had a hard time believing this. Mueller was dead. She couldn’t hurt anyone else. She couldn’t kill anymore mutants. It had really been this simple. 

She wasn’t even sure what to do with herself. She’d been prepared for the fight of her life. All she could think to do was walk down the hallway, telling everyone she saw to get out and get home. When she made it back outside, she saw Ruckus’ body laying in pieces on the curb. Feral had got the fight she’d been expecting. She saw the beast-girl sitting on the ground wiping blood from her fur, “Where’s Scaleface?”

“Dunno, she hasn’t come back yet. Where’s Mueller? I ain’t heard anything.”

“She’s, uh, she’s dead.”

“Well that was easy.”

“Yeah, it was. Really easy. Have you heard from Morph or Japheth yet?”

“Not yet. How’d it happen? I was expecting more noise.”

“So was I,” she looked back over her shoulder into the now empty building, “Where are the others?”

“Tommy and Sammy haven’t even gone into the sewer yet. But if Mueller’s dead, then we can just go through the front door, right? So what happened?”

“Yeah, they should go through here. Follow the hallway all the way back and through the door on the left. It’ll take them through the lab room to the holding cells.”

“Lili, what happened?” Feral asked again, “How did Mueller die?”

“Don’t worry about that. I took care of it for her. No reason for her to have that kind of blood on her hands just yet, now is there?” the voice made both of them jump. It was deep and smooth, sending a shiver down her spine, “Best not to leave you with the nightmares of killing her and letting her kill that girl and those babies.”

Feral rose up and growled, her hands moving into a defensive position. She was ready to pounce if need be, “Who’s there?!”

There was the sound of metal bending in the lamp posts near by. Like they were straining to fight against whatever was near them. They both looked up and saw him, “Magneto,” she hadn’t seen him since her time on his asteroid. Some of them had seen him during the attack in the city, but she hadn’t. He looked just like she remembered. Tall, imposing, and even a little majestic. His cape fluttered as he came to settle down on the street in front of them. He reached up and removed the helmet that protected him from certain mutant abilities affects.

“Hello, Kree, good to see you again.”

She stood close to Feral, ready to fight as well. Problem was that she knew they couldn’t take him. He was too strong, “And with a clear head this time.”

He smiled lightly and nodded a bit, “Yes, that is always a good thing too.”

“Why are you here? What did you do to Mueller?”

“I think it’s obvious what I did to Mueller. I saw a woman with a gun to a helpless mutant and another helpless mutant trying to stop it. I intervened and removed the threat. It’s quite simple to manipulate a bullet. After all, they are so small,” he looked around a bit, “I was expecting more damage here. The hospital is a blood bath.”

Lili’s eyes went wide, “The hospital?” that’s where Japheth was supposed to go to confront Sinister, “What happened at the hospital?”

“Well, it appears that you weren’t fully aware of what you were getting involved in. Had I known that Sinister was here or what was going on, I would have come put a stop to it sooner. At least Mueller is finally dead. Woman should have been killed years ago,” he didn’t seem to be intentionally avoiding her question, but he was avoiding it.

“What happened at the hospital?”

“I received a call a day ago informing me that there was something going wrong on Genosha. I’m glad I came to check on it when I did. Had I been later, you could have caused the death of many mutants. Sinister is well above your level. You should be thankful that Sinister was at the hospital and it seems that the kill switch for those collars is here. Sinister has never been one for helping out his companions. He took out everyone in his way and apparently left. He does that.”

Lili didn’t understand. Who would call Magneto? Morph said there wasn’t any way to get a call off the island. Why would they contact Magneto instead of Xavier? What happened at the hospital? 

“You said the hospital was a blood bath…”

“Yes. Those here have been spared, but a lot of mutant blood has been spilled tonight.”

Lili didn’t wait to hear anymore. She took off running and ignored both Magneto and Feral calling after her. Her heart was pounding hard in her chest as she ran through the dark streets. She could hear sirens as she got closer to the hospital. It didn’t even occur to her to fly to get there faster, “Japheth…” just because they weren’t ‘together’ didn’t mean she didn’t care about him or his safety.

She could see the hospital. It was surrounded with Genoshian police officers and officials. She could see bodies being carried out and saw two that made her nearly throw up. The bodies were covered, but she knew there were only two things it could be. They were both about a foot and a half long and roundish. Either it was Eany and Meany or it was some children. Neither prospect was desirable at the moment.

Before she could get any closer, she felt someone grab her around the waist and the world felt like it was rushing by. When it stopped spinning, she felt a little disoriented, “Don’t wanna get too close to there. You’re a national terrorist to them, or something like that. The news is so boring lately.”

“Peitro?” she knew that cocky voice anywhere. Her head was still spinning too much to focus on him, but she could see the familiar white hair and that tealish suit. Despite all the fights with the Brotherhood, she’d never been caught up in his whirlwinds or grabbed by him before. Now she knew why people tended to throw up after he was done messing with them, “What…”

She didn’t get to finish her question though. Pietro didn’t like waiting, “Can’t let anything happen to Toad’s girl, now can we?” he chuckled, “He might be a slimy creep, but he’s our slimy creep and you’re the only girl that’s ever been willing to touch him, so we can’t let them blow your head off…At least not right now. Right now, we still need you.”

“For what?”

“What else? The revolution of Genosha.”


	38. Chapter 38

“Hey, Babe. Long time no see, huh?” 

Lili’s head shot up at the sound of the voice. She had been bent over the edge of a bed with her head resting on it while sitting in a chair. There was a body covered with a blanket, moving up and down slowly from breathing.

She’d been in Magneto’s new hideout for a few days now. It was a ship that floated several miles off the coast of Genosha, but it didn’t float atop the water. Instead it was more like a submarine. It was designed like the metal pods she remembered seeing in the city, but on a much larger scale. It made her wonder just how much money and how many connections this man had to be able to run things like this and Asteroid M. 

Since coming here, she’d barely left this room. She’d come in here when Japheth’s body was brought in and she hadn’t left his side since. Pietro had managed to get a few of the mutant bodies out of the hospital and she had begged him to make sure Japheth was one of them. He was badly beat up. The plating over his stomach had been ripped off and he was more badly cut up than she’d been when she escaped the research center. Pietro hadn’t found Eany or Meany anywhere, but she was sure that the Genoshian government already had them. 

Without Eany or Meany, Japheth was going to die. Magneto had sent plenty of other mutants in to check on him and his condition and they all agreed that there was nothing they could do except ease his pain as he slipped away from eventual starvation. One had come in earlier today and put Japheth into some kind of coma. That way he wouldn’t feel it anymore.

Lili couldn’t believe it, but she knew it was the truth. Japheth was going to die. 

Even though she knew that the Brotherhood technically worked for Magneto, she hadn’t seen any of them since coming here. In fact, the only one she’d seen at all had been Pietro and that was only for an hour or two. 

This was her first time seeing Toad since the night he jumped through her window to get her inducer. He looked different, but not by much. It had been at least two years and she was surprised by the changes to his body. He still crouched low to the ground, but she could tell he was taller now. His skin was darker green and less yellow than it had been before. His hair was longer too, but still the same kind of yellowish-green. His face was thinner and she noticed his hands. His fingers had a thin webbing between them that she knew he didn’t have before. 

“Toad…” she looked away and set her eyes back on the bed.

“So, uh, he’s your boyfriend, huh? They know what’s wrong with him?” he hopped over and stood up next to the bed, “He doesn’t look so good.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” they’d put an end to it before the fight, “And he’s dying. Could you please leave?” she didn’t have to see his face to know he was giving her some kind of offended look, “I don’t have to explain it to you.”

“Right, cause I ain’t your boyfriend, but apparently neither is he.”

Lili’s face tightened a little as she reached over and clasped one of Japheth’s red skinned hands. She knew he hadn’t been fed properly in a few days. It showed in his skin. It was always red when Eany and Meany hadn’t fed him, but it wasn’t the bright red color she was used to seeing. It was dull and rusty. He was dying. Slowly dying, “It’s none of your business.”

“Yeah, whatever…”

First time seeing each other in three years and she could feel a fight coming on, “Toad, get out before I make you get out.”

“You still got that collar on, you ain’t makin’ anybody do anythin’.”

Turning her head, she glared at him, “Toad, I will tear you to pieces with my bare hands. Don’t test my patience right now.”

“Listen, I just wanted to see you and talk to you. You took off with him and I figured you two were still together...’specially since you ain’t left this room since you been here. I didn’t come here to fight with you. Promise,” she remembered what Pietro said. About how he couldn’t let anything happen to Toad’s girl. She figured that meant that Toad hadn’t been in a relationship with anyone else, not that that fact surprised her much. 

“I’m not really in the mood to talk…” she rubbed the back of Japheth’s hand softly. The last thing she’d done before getting captured by Mueller and Sinister was read the letter Toad had written her. She still had that same letter in her pocket. She didn’t need him to know that Japheth had broke up with her because he saw the letter too. She didn’t need him to know that even while they had been together, she still thought about him instead of her boyfriend. It wasn't exactly a comforting thought, “Please leave.”

“If you wanna talk, Babe, I’ll listen. Really. I will,” he sounded sincere. It wasn’t the kind of promise he used to make. The kind where he’d promise her something, but only in exchange for a make-out session. There was no hidden agenda this time. Just the offer to listen.

She swallowed a little and nodded, “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it…” he reached over and she felt his hand on the small of her back. It rubbed lightly before pulling away, “You should eat somethin’, you ain’t lookin’ so good. I’ll see you around.”

She nodded lightly again and waited for the sound of the door to open and close behind him. She didn’t say anything. Just rubbed at Japheth’s hand and laid her head back down on the bed. Just because they weren’t together didn’t mean she didn’t care about him. He’d been her boyfriend. They’d lived together. She’d shared secrets with him. He’d helped take care of her when she’d got free of the research center. Just because she didn’t love him didn’t mean she didn’t want to be here with him. Even with her lingering feelings for Toad, she couldn’t bring herself to leave Japheth here alone. 

He was going to die and it wasn’t fair to let him die here alone. He deserved to have someone with him. He'd tried his best to be there for her and it only felt right to do the same. 

As far as she knew, his whole family was dead and he wandered a lot. He hadn't even been with the Morlocks all that long, so she didn't know anyone to notify. Right now, she was all he had. 

"I'm so sorry, Japheth. It's all my fault," for the umpteenth time, she felt her eyes watering, "You didn't think we should have attacked, but I wanted so badly to get to Mueller. If I'd just listened to you..." she was angry with herself. She was also angry with Morph. As far as she knew, Sinister had got away and no one had found Morph. She wondered if he had betrayed them. Even still, it was her fault for trusting him and Japheth was the one paying for it, "I'm so sorry..." she'd repeated that a number of times since his body was brought here. It felt like it was never going to be enough.


	39. Chapter 39

Japheth was gone. He slipped away while she’d been sleeping with her head on his pillow. She knew he was gone when she woke up, but she’d sat there and just held his hand for several hours before going to tell anyone. 

She wondered if Eany and Meany were alive. Could they survive without Japheth? If not, would they had died when he did? If they could, would they realize that he was dead? What would they do without him? Sure, they were sentient creatures, but they were a part of him. She wondered if they would die of heartbreak without him. After all, they spent most of their life and time inside of him and as part of him. She couldn’t imagine that they would want to go on without him. Who would want them around? Lili cared about them, but she wasn’t sure if she was up for caring for them, if they were even still alive. 

Magneto stood beside her and set an arm across her shoulders, “The people who caused this need to be held accountable for their actions.”

“Sinister did it. He’s a mutant…” she muttered.

“Sinister did it, but he wouldn’t have been able to if Genosha hadn’t allowed him to set up his labs here. He never would have been able to hurt any of the mutants on Genosha if it wasn’t for their laws and underground dealings with mutants,” which Lili didn’t entirely believe. Mueller and Sinister had been doing this for a long time. Long before coming to Genosha. Still, Magneto wasn’t entirely wrong either, “As long as humans control Genosha, they will continue to allow this to happen. Even with Mueller and Sinister gone, they still have the technology to control us and abuse us.”

She knew what he was doing. He’d done it to her before. He was trying to convince her that she was better than a human. That she should join his cause. The sad thing was that she was, once again, considering it. 

“Exposing them to the world isn’t good enough. They claim that Genosha is a place for mutants. We need to take it from them and make it that. We need to claim Genosha for our kind. We will show them that mutants will not continue to take their treatment. That we will take this island and we will make it a true home for mutants and mutants alone. We will avenge Japheth and all others who have suffered and died because of them.”

The Professor would never have agreed with it, but Lili didn’t always agree with the Professor. In truth, what would the world do for them? Most places didn’t consider mutants human and so human rights did not apply to them. They were monsters and freaks. A handful of humans accepting them meant nothing right now. They could spend decades trying to wait for humans to decide how to deal with Genosha. In the meantime, it would continue and other countries would start doing it too. Magneto was right. They needed to do something now. 

There was something different about the magnetic mutant. She couldn’t place it, but he seemed calmer. The way he spoke was still very drawing, but the way he moved and the way he addressed people was different. Almost like he believed what he was saying, but now he hated that it had to be that way. Lili knew that there had been some kind of fight while she had been held captive, but she didn’t know what it was. Maybe it had changed him. Like he realized now that what they needed to do was necessary, but regrettable. 

“We need to take Genosha and make it a place for mutants. A place where we can live without pain and suffering,” this wasn’t the Magneto she knew. The one she knew would want to take Genosha as a base of operations to assert their superiority over humanity. This Magneto wanted a place for them to live and be away from humanity, “I would like your help in this, Kree. You’re a strong woman and we’ll need you, but if you are not willing, I will ensure your safe return to Charles.”

“Why isn’t the Professor here?” mutants were in trouble. Even if he didn’t want to go about it the way Magneto was, she didn’t understand why he wasn’t here, “You said someone contacted you. Who was it and why didn’t they contact the Professor?”

“Charles wishes for the world to accept mutants and for us to live among them. He has his own trials to deal with at the moment. The world is in a state of despair when it comes to mutants. They fear us and Charles cannot handle everything. Genosha needs things that dear Charles is unwilling to deal with, so I shall. As for who contacted me, I believe it was Morph. It’s hard to tell though,” hearing that made her feel a little shocked.

Morph had told her that he had no way to contact anyone. Why would he lie like that? They hadn’t found his body and there was no sign that he’d died like many of the others in the hospital. Lili bit her lower lip as she thought about it. Morph had said that he wanted to help, but he still wanted to suffer. Maybe this was his way of finally getting back at her. Contact Magneto to help free the mutants of Genosha, but not tell anyone he was doing it so they would go ahead with a fight he knew they couldn’t win, “He knew. He knew that we didn’t stand a chance against Sinister. He knew that anyone who went into the hospital was going to die,” he knew that Japheth was going to be killed. Morph wanted her to suffer, not die. What better way to do that than to let people she cared for get killed.

“I have my doubts that Morph would be capable of something like that.”

“I don’t. Sinister did something to him. Put something in his brain. He was angry at me over what you made me do. He thought I wanted him dead. He thought I wanted to kill him. I never did get to thank you for all of that,” she sneered a little.

“Kree, I have no regrets for the things I have done in my life. I might not be the man I was then, but I still believe that what I was doing was for the best,” he sounded so convinced of that and she knew he meant it. She shook her head a little and started to walk off, “Do you plan on helping us free Genosha? If not, I will plan for your safe return home.”

“I’m going to Genosha now. Japheth’s mutation left him with two sentient creatures. Pietro couldn’t find them. I need to know if they survived or not. If they did, I have to get them. I don’t want to think what the Genoshian government will do to them,” Lili wasn’t sure she was prepared to take care of them for the rest of her life, but she wasn’t willing to let some scientists dissect them or let the government sell them.

“I don’t think it’s wise to go to the island just yet. We need to prepare.”

“I didn’t ask for your opinion on the matter,” she snapped back.

“It would be sad to see anymore mutant blood spilled. If you insist on going, let the Brotherhood go with you. At least Pietro,” it seemed like his children and the Professor were the few people Magneto called by their real names and not their mutant names.

“I don’t need their help, especially Pietro,” she found it hard to focus and concentrate around the fast talking and fast moving mutant, “Eany and Meany are my responsibility.”

“I knew Japheth before you did, Kree. I’m the one that freed those creatures from his body,” that got her attention and she stopped to look back at him, “I have just as much responsibility to them as you do. Please, accept my help. If you won’t wait for us to take the island and wish to go now to see if they are still alive, at least accept my help in doing so.”

Lili looked down at the floor for a moment. She didn’t want the help, but she knew she really couldn’t do it on her own. She was too noticeable. Pietro could get in and out fast. Even Toad could get in there better than she could, “Fine.”

The avian left it at that as she started walking again. She heard Magneto call out that the Brotherhood would meet her by her room, which was the one she’d spent her whole time in since coming here with Japheth. Lili was sure she wouldn’t be able to stay here if she came back. It felt strange just to come in here right now. 

She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do. Whether she found Eany and Meany or not, she knew she had to decide if she was going to help Magneto or not. Lili wanted to, but at the same time she didn’t. She didn’t trust Magneto or the Brotherhood. But she knew that Magneto was strong enough to do this and win. The mutants could actually have a chance to win something. A chance to really make a change in the world. She had to decide if that was something she wanted to be a part of or not.

She sat in the chair next to the bed for nearly an hour before the door opened. Lili couldn’t bring herself to lay in the bed. Not when Japheth’s body had been there not even a day ago. She couldn’t help but remember the first night they actually shared a bed together. It was their first night on Genosha in the hotel room provided by Mueller. They’d decided that they were both adults and could handle sleeping in the same bed. That it was silly for one of them to sleep on the floor. She’d been nervous about it. Especially since he’d decided to sleep in nothing but his underwear, but it had been nice. He’d wrapped his arm around her and fell asleep. That’s how it had been almost every night. 

“Hey, Babe, you ready?” she groaned a little as she felt a hand touch her shoulder. She was half asleep and didn’t want to wake up, “I ain’t fallin’ for that again. Last time you slapped me.”

Lili looked over at him and shook her head a little, “What’re you doing here? Where’s Pietro?” that’s who she’d been expecting.

“Big man thought you’d prefer me. After all, we got history,” to which she rolled her eyes, “Hey, don’t forget that you used to tell me how much you liked havin’ my tongue down your throat. You’re the one that let me put my hands up your shirt, not that there was anythin’ to feel,” he snapped.

She shoved him out of the way as she stood up from the chair and started towards the door, “I don’t need help from you.”

“Come on, Babe, don’t be like that. I just wanna help ya. It’s the least I could do, right? It’s not like it’s gonna just be us. Blob is gonna come with too,” cause that’s all they needed, to be more noticeable. Maybe Magneto was trying to get them killed. Still, who better to get them out in a pinch than a guy that could body slam his way through concrete walls. 

He reached out and grabbed one of her hands. His hand felt different than she remembered. It was still cold, but the skin felt softer. Kind of how skin felt when it was in water for too long. It also felt a little sticky. She remembered that he could stick to walls and climb them, but she’d never noticed the sticky texture before. His grip felt stronger too, “Let me help you. I heard you talkin’ to Magneto about it. You cared about that guy and those things, so let me help you.” it felt so strange to hear things like that come out of his mouth. She had a hard time believing that he’d really grown up like this. It made her remember that she still had the letter from him in her pocket. In fact, that was the only thing she had left from her life before Genosha. At least the only physical item.

“...Okay,” she sighed softly before turning around to face him. She thought for a moment before moving closer to him and wrapping her arms around his neck. He seemed surprised and stiffened a little at her touch, “Thanks,” she kissed his cheek softly before pulling back. That’s when the Toad she remembered came back. He slipped his arms around her waist and tried to pull her back, trying to press his lips against her own, “Toad!” she snapped and threw her hands up in his face. He stumbled back and fell back on the bed as she huffed.

“What? You can’t blame a guy for tryin’.”

Lili didn’t even know what to say. She wanted to kick him and crack his head into the wall. Flailing her arms up for a moment, she gave an exhausted huff before digging the letter he’d written her out of her pocket and throwing it at him, “You’re horrible, Toad!”

She heard him call out as she headed from the room, “Hey, I wrote this. You kept it! That means somethin!”

“Yeah, it means I’m a moron!” she shouted back before heading to where Magneto said they would exit the ship.


	40. Chapter 40

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been so long. I love X-Men, but sometimes you just need to take a break. I'm back though!

Genosha looked like a country ready for war. There were policemen patrolling the streets at all hours. A citywide curfew was in effect. All ports were closed. Human and mutant housing alike was inspected at random. And everyone just seemed generally on edge. It had only been a few days since the incidents at the hospital and research center. People were praising Mueller as some kind of hero for having died fighting. They were demonizing Lili, Japheth, and the Morlocks. 

Toad snatched a newspaper for her and brought it back to where they were hiding in the alleyway. Japheth was on the front page and the whole article was about how he’d broken into the hospital and slaughtered the entirety of the mutant children’s ward. It made her sick to her stomach. They said that Milbury, who she knew to be Sinister, had been injured defending the poor children, “Bastards…” she growled as she threw the paper, “He’s alive. They’re keeping him alive,” not that she believed for one second that he was actually hurt, “He killed Japheth. He killed those children.”

“Calm down, Babe,” he touched his cold, webbed hand to hers.

Lili jerked her hand away from him, “Don’t touch me,” she hissed a bit. She was still sore with him about trying to kiss her.

“We’re here to find those slug things. We’re here to help you. Don’t get pissy with us.”

“Whatever…” she snipped, “Come on…” even with her wings, it was easy enough to hide in the alleyway. Toad didn’t have much of a problem hiding either. It was Blob that was an issue. He’d already been big enough to tear down a building as a teenager and she was sure he’d got even bigger since the last time she saw him, “Blob, I need you to stay here on lookout,” she handed him one of the radios Magneto had provided, “If we need help, we’ll contact you. If you see anyone coming, contact us.”

He nodded in response. Toad would have made a better lookout, but Lili was sure Blob knew why he’d been asked to stay behind. He’d always been a calm and peaceful kind of guy, but easily angered when his weight was called to attention. She wondered if he had just got better at controlling himself. 

“Alone at last,” Toad said teasingly as she lead him across the street to the research center.

“Shut up,” she growled at him.

The whole place was pitch black. The windows on the front were still shattered and there was police tape closing the area off. They were apparently still ‘investigating’ what had happened. She doubted her mother’s body would still be here. In fact, she was sure that it had been handed over to Sinister. The two had been working together for a long time. Then again, Sinister had told her several times that her mother’s mutation was not all that special.

“So...uh...what happened here?” Toad asked as she quietly lead him through the darkened halls. Lili thought about when she found the file of the child she believed to be Toad. Should she tell him about it? Would she want someone knowing about her to tell her about it? The answer was yes. She would want to know when it came down to it.

“A lot…A lot of bad things,” she decided she would tell him when they were finished here. The last thing she needed was him getting upset about it right now. 

He walked ahead of her for a little bit, peeking into empty rooms and looking at the equipment, “Like what? Magneto said that the woman runnin’ the place was your mother, that true?”

Lili tensed a bit, “Yeah…” she’d hoped he would have kept that information to himself. Then again, it probably wasn’t told directly to Toad anyway, “I don’t wanna talk about it though.”

“Whatever. So, what the hell we lookin’ for in here? I thought we found that guy at the hospital. Shouldn’t we be lookin’ there?”

“Their main lab was under here. This is where they kept everyone. If Eany or Meany are still alive, they would have been brought here. If not, there is a tunnel under here that leads to where Sinister’s lab room was,” if they weren’t here, she would have to assume they were dead. If she didn’t consider them dead, then there was no telling where they could be and she could spend months or longer looking for them. Lili couldn’t torture herself about it any more than she already was, “In here…”

Lili lead him through the room that she’d been held in. It was still in the same mess she’d left it in. The lab table she’d been strapped to more than once was tossed to one side of the room. There were claw marks on all the cabinet doors and the doors on either side of the room, “Woah, what happened in here? The other rooms weren’t like this.”

She felt herself tense again and tried to shake it off, “I told you, I won’t wanna talk about it. Just keep your eyes out for slugs. They’re about a foot and a half long with metal plating on the back half of their bodies and they have three red eyes. They usually making cooing noises.”

“That sounds lovely,” he groaned before snickering a little, “So, do they coo like you used to when I’d do this?” he came up behind her and ran a cold finger up her spine, “You used to like that.”

“Toad!” she snapped, “If you touch me one more time or make one more little ‘cute’ comment, I’m going to punch you in the goddamn throat! And don’t you dare call me ‘babe’ again. Got it?!”

Toad seemed noticeably shocked and scared as he jumped back from her, “Jeez, calm down. I’m just tryin’ ta help you relax a little. You’ve been so tense.”

“You’d be tense too if your mother had been killing infants for over a century and tried to use you as some kind of damn breeding cow. Why the hell are you even here? Just wanting to piss me off? You do realize the guy I had been living with for almost two years just died last night, don’t you? Are you just wanting to rub it in my face that your life the past few years has been better than mine? Because I have no doubts that it has been. Are you wanting to hear that he and I broke up because I’m in love with you? Or are you expecting me to just beg you to take me back? Unless you actually plan on help me here, Toad, then get the hell out of my sight,” she snapped at him before storming off towards the door on the other side of the room.

She was halfway down the darkened staircase that Morph had dragged her up and down several times to take her between Mueller and Milbury’s labs, when Toad jumped down in front of her. She always forgot how good a jumper he was and that he could climb walls, “Christ…” she put a hand on her chest, “You’re going to give me a damn heart attack.”

“I’m sorry.”

Lili felt speechless. She knew that Toad had apologized to her before, but she couldn’t recall it off the top of her head, “T-thank you…”

“Did she hurt you?”

She looked down at the floor before slumping down to sit on one of the stairs, “Yeah. Not as much as she did some of the others. She could have done worse. She said she needed me though. I think being her daughter is the only reason she didn’t kill me,” she hugged her knees to her chest and rested her chin on top. She hadn’t talked to anyone about it yet, “As far as she knew, I’m the only one of her children left alive. She wanted to keep her DNA in her little project, so yeah...guess that makes me lucky, huh?”

“How long were you here?” there was no joking in his voice for once.

Lili shrugged, “I’m not really sure. Six months. Probably longer. I spent most of it in that room up there.”

She looked up as he held a hand out to her, “Come on. Let’s go find those bugs,” once again, she wasn’t sure what to say. Instead she just nodded her head and let him help her to her feet. She held onto his hand as she lead him down towards the holding area of the mutants. She wished every cell had been empty, but they weren’t. There were bodies in a many of them. Some had their heads blown off from the collars, but many were simply laid out on the ground in various positions, as if they had just collapsed where they were, “Woah…” 

“You okay?” she have his hand a small squeeze.

“Y-yeah. This place is creepy. I’ve never seen a dead body like that before…” they had been in a lot of fights, but as far as Lili could remember, they had never seen dead people before. At least not just laying around like this.

“Trust me. Death was the better alternative for them,” they had gotten out as many as they could, but it was inevitable that many wouldn’t make it.

“H-how can you say that?” 

“Toad, these people were experimented on. Slaves. Sold as toys. Mueller and Sinister did horrible things to them. They were drugged out of their minds. The ones dead here are the lucky ones. The ones we couldn’t save, they would have either been killed like these ones or taken somewhere else to continue being slaves. Genosha is hell and this was it’s prison.”

“Did you live down here?”

“For a little while. Mueller wanted me better taken care of though. She wanted me to gain weight and stuff so I could hold a pregnancy,” she felt his hand twitch a little, “What?”

“I…” she could see him shake his head a bit in the dark, “Did they...you know...to you?”

Lili felt her cheeks get warm, “No. I got away,” she felt his hand tighten a little around hers, “Toad...there’s something I need to tell you. It’s about Mueller and her projects,” she’d decided before not to tell him yet, but she felt like she needed to.

“Wait...Listen…” 

She stopped walking and looked around. He pointed towards a stairway. Lili heard it too. There was someone moving around up the stairs, “That was Sinister’s lab,” she whispered, “Come on…” she tugged him towards one of the cells and pushed him inside. Thankfully, there were no bodies in this one. She pulled him into one of the corners and he wrapped his arms around her to keep her wings as flat as possible, “Someone’s coming down…”

“Shhh…” he told her as they both watched through the bars.

“It’s Sinister…” she whispered softly as she saw his form walking past the bars. He wasn’t alone though. Toad tightened his hold on her as she twitched and nearly lunged out at the pair walking by, “Morph…” she growled lowly. 

“Are you upset that you did not kill her yourself, Master?” the playdoh looking man asked.

“Not really. It would have been satisfying, but no different really. Do you feel avenged yet?”

She watched Morph’s face harden, “Yes. He should be dead by now.”

“Pity though. His mutation wasn’t of much use to me, but he would have made a good soldier like you.”

“He had to die so she would suffer,” Morph hissed, “She’ll spend the rest of her life knowing it was her fault he died,” Toad held her close as she started shaking a bit,” What are you going to do with the slug?”

“I’m not sure yet. The one didn’t survive and the other doesn’t seem to be faring well without it’s mate,” Eany and Meany. Lili knew it had to be them that they were talking about. One of them was dead, but one was still alive, “We might as well kill it off too. I was hoping that they would be connected to the Brimstone Dimension, but apparently not. It is useless to me. We won’t be here much longer anyway and there is no point in having useless baggage.”

Lili didn’t realized how tightly Toad had been holding her till the other two men walked out of hearing range and he relaxed his grip. She could feel herself shaking in anger. She wanted to go after them and tear into the both of them, “Thank you…” she muttered softly.

“You were gonna lunge at them. I was just protectin’ myself,” he stated, “You lunge, they fight back, I have to come out and save your ass. I ain’t fightin’ them.”

She nodded a little. That was the Toad she knew. Always looking out for himself. It made it easier for her to remember why she’d left him when he acted like himself. It was easy to ignore when he behaved himself when he said things like that. It reminded her that he was only behaving to get what he wanted, “I know,” the avian pulled away from him and looked out around the cell. She couldn’t see or hear either of the other men anymore, “Come on…”

Lili lead him in the direction Sinister and Morph had come from. Unlike the lab room she’d been held in, this one was still in perfect condition. She shivered as she remembered the first time Morph dragged her kicking and screaming in here. He’d stared her in the eyes as Sinister plucked her feathers and jabbed her with needles. The only needle that had come close to actually hurting was the bone marrow one, but it was the way Morph just watched that had been painful. 

The first thing she saw was Eany. His body was stuffed into a jar with some kind of liquid like a bad science experiment. She gasped a little before running over to it and stroking the glass with her fingertips, “Eany…” she knew it was him from the scar over his third eye. Tears welled up in her eyes as she picked up the jar and held it for a moment. He was the one she got along with the best. 

“Hey, I found the other one,” Toad called out. He stood up and pointed under a cabinet, “I think it’s dead,” Lili carried the jar with Eany over and handed it to him, “Ewww…Why am I holdin’ this?”

She knelt down to look at Meany, “We’re taking him back with us. He deserves to be buried with Japheth,” she stated as she reached into the cabinet. Meany was in a cage. She looked smaller than Lili remembered. The fleshy part of her body was cold, “She’s not dead. She’s just sedated,” she started looking around for the key.

“You want me to carry this thing?” he sneered.

“Or you could carry the living one,” she snapped back.

Toad swallowed a bit, “I’ll carry this one,” he wrapped an arm around the jar, “How can you tell which is which?”

“I lived with them. It’s easy once you get to know them,” she started opening drawers, “Help me find something to get the cage open.”

He set Eany on the lab table, “I can get it.”

Lili looked at him for a moment and went wide eyed, “Toad!” she shouted, but she was too late. Morph lunged at the mutant boy and grabbed him tight, “Let him go!” 

“Hey, Darling,” he smiled as he wrapped an arm around Toad’s neck. The amphibian boy kicked hard and managed to get the man off balance, “Need to stop those legs,” his arm stretched and snaked around Toad’s body, tightening to keep him from moving, “There we go. Now...Did you say ‘Toad’?” he turned his cold, grey eyes to Lili.

“I said to let him go, Morph,” she growled.

“Is this the same Toad you used to talk about on Asteroid M? The one you called a jerk, but that you still liked. Oh, Darling, I thought I’d taken care of the guy you were in love with, but apparently I was wrong. Looks like I need to take care of this one too.”

“Don’t hurt him!” she screamed, tears welling up in her eyes again. Lili didn’t want anyone else hurt because of her. Japheth was already dead, so was Eany. She couldn’t stand the thought of someone else dying because of whatever Sinister put into Morph’s head, “Let him go!”

Morph chuckled, but Toad seemed to have a plan of his own. He gagged a little and spit out a foul smelling liquid that started to sizzle as it touched Morph’s skin. The putty man howled in pain as he let go of the frog boy who ran over to grab Lili’s wrist and start tugging her towards the other door, “Come on!”

“No! We have to get Meany!” she yanked herself free and ran back over to the caged slug, “I’m not leaving without her!”

Toad seemed to hesitate for a moment. As if he considered taking off without her. Instead, he darted after her, “Fuckin’ hell…” he cursed as he pushed her out of the way and spat at the cage bars. Lili didn’t even wait as she clawed away at the bars and dragged the slug’s body out, “Now come on!”

She held the slimy body close to her chest as Toad dragged her by the arm out the door. It lead them into an office room, “I don’t know where we are, Toad,” she stated, “Eany! We forgot Eany! We have to go back!” she stopped, but Toad kept going, “Toad!”

“It’s dead! We ain’t goin’ back for it!” he snapped, “Now come on!” he shouted at her. His tongue flicked out and wrapped around her arm to pull her again. Once she was running on her own, he let go and grabbed the radio from his waist, “Blob! Come get us!” there was a small pause, “I don’t know where the hell we are!”

They ran through several rooms that looked worse than the research center. Lili could see scorched and torn images of flowers on the walls, “The hospital! We’re at the hospital!”

“You hear that, Blob?! Come get us out! Who the hell is that freak?!” he snapped at Lili.

“Don’t yell at me!” she heard Morph stumble out of the door to the office. They were already down the hall and through the door for the staircase, “His name is Morph!”

Toad easily took the stairs as he hopped down each flight. Lili thought about just jumping down the center, but she knew her wing span was too big and she’d just likely kill herself doing it. She tripped part way down a flight as she heard Morph shout out for her as he started chasing down the stairs. Lili curled up around Meany as she tumbled down the stairs and slammed into the wall.

Clinging to Meany, who was starting to make small noises, she tried to stand up, but a pain shot up through her leg and she collapsed back to the floor, “Come on, Babe, get up!” Toad urged.

“I can’t. I think I broke my leg,” it didn’t hurt too bad, but she couldn’t stand. There wasn’t enough room in the stairwell for her to take flight, “Take Meany,” she shoved the slug into his hands.

Toad looked at her as he fumbled with the creature and then looked up to see Morph jumping down the flights of stairs, “Babe, I…” he shook his head before finishing and took off with Meany.

Lili grabbed the railing and forced herself up just as Morph came down on top of her. He threw her back into the wall and she gasped as the air left her lungs. He wasted no time in grabbing her around the neck and slamming her head back into the wall. She groaned and reached up to dig her claws into his arms. Her claws sank in, but it didn’t seem to affect him at all.

“I was going to let you go, Darling,” he snapped, “I would have let you and that little slug go. All you had to do was let me kill that frog,” he growled.

“Morph,” she managed to get his name out before her lungs started straining for air. Her feet kicked as he raised her up off the ground and slammed her head back into the wall again.

Her mind raced with things she could do to get away, but none of it seemed plausible. She couldn’t help but wish things were different. What would have happened if things went differently on Asteroid M? What if he hadn’t been left for dead there and came back to the institute? Japheth and Eany would be alive. He wouldn’t be trying to kill her. Those were for certain. 

One of her eyes refused to open, but she got the other one to and looked at the anger on Morph’s face. This was her fault. He hated her. She’d tried to kill him and that was all that was in his mind. Sinister had changed him from the man he was into this creature filled with hate for her. Whether she had wanted to hurt him or not, she had done it. Lili deserved this. She realized that now. She’d willingly gone through with Magneto’s first treatment. If she hadn’t of done that and resisted the whole time, or even willingly went through the second, he would have had no reason to hold Morph against her.

“I...I’m s-sorry…” she managed to stammer out just before her threw her head back into the wall again.

The whole staircase shook as the wall next to Morph exploded. A large, meaty hand reached out and grabbed the putty man. Lili fell to the floor coughing as Blob threw the shapeshifting mutant. Toad hopped past the large mutant and landed next to her, “Come on,” he slipped an arm around her and started to tug her up, “We have to get outta here.”

“Meany. Where’s Meany?” she coughed out as he half carried her along.

“Don’t worry about the damn slug! Worry about yourself!” he snapped, “The damn thing is fine…” he finally growled, “Let’s go, Blob!”

“In a minute!” the bulky mutant shouted back as Morph charged him, “Meet the unmoveable, Putty Man!” he growled as he blocked the hole in the wall as Toad helped her limp out. 

Meany came crawling over to her and cooed softly, “Meany,” she smiled a little and reached down to pick her up. In her time knowing the slug, it had never once been kind to her. From the moment it ate her image inducer to the day she and Japheth broke up. The large slug had growled, hissed, and snapped at her. It ate her clothing, her shoes, her hair brush, her purses. It hated her. But now it cooed and climbed up her arm to sit on her shoulder. 

“That’s nice and all, but lets go! Hurry up, Blob!” Toad shouted and Meany growled at him, “Screw you,” he growled back.

Lili could hear sirens and even saw lights, “We need to hurry…” which was going to be difficult since she couldn’t run, “Go without me,” Toad grunted a little as he helped her hobble into the alleyway, “You and Blob need to get out of here. Take Meany with you,” though the touchy slug growled in protest at being with the frog mutant again.

“I came back for you, you really think I’m gonna leave ya now?” he snorted.

Blob finally came lumbering over. Lili could see Morph’s body laying in the rubble, “Is he dead?”

“Don’t know,” the big mutant shrugged before leaning down to scoop her up.

Meany curled up against her chest and her neck as Blob carried her back to the pod Magneto had sent them up here in. Toad took her from the large mutant and held her as he sat back and Blob climbed in. The sounds of the sirens and people shouting disappeared as the pod closed shut and sank down into the water. Meany growled at Toad a little and he glared back at it, “You can set me down,” she said softly.

“You’re pretty banged up. Just sit still and be quiet,” he leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes.

“You didn’t have to come back for me…”

“You listen as well as always. I said be quiet,” he sighed and slumped back a bit, adjusting her to lay against his chest.

Lili nodded a bit, which made her feel light headed, before laying her head on his shoulder. Her hands rested on Meany, who was purring softly, obviously happy to be free of the cage. Lili was determined to take care of the slug. Whether Meany was fond of her or not didn’t matter anymore. This was her responsibility now.


End file.
